


Georgia Peach

by HavocRoyale



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Autistic Cady Heron, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Home for Christmas, Homophobia, I'm starting a revolution and it's called trans!cady fuck you, Miscommunication, Multi, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Janis, Other, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Trans Cady Heron, Trans Jason "J. D." Dean, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:50:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HavocRoyale/pseuds/HavocRoyale
Summary: Janis didn't hate the holidays, she just hated holidays spent with her family in Georgia. They still thought everything she was is just a phase, she was going to teach them a lesson. Only problem is that she doesn't have a girlfriend, but she does have a friend who's a girl, that's enough she assumes.





	1. Chapter 1

 It’s not that Janis hated the holidays. She loved them as much as the next person, they were a much needed break from work and school and extra time to spend with her friends. It’s just that Janis hated the holidays that required she surround herself with family. Like Christmas for example.

 Well, mostly  _ just _ Christmas. 

 Once upon a time Thanksgiving and Easter had been on that list as well, but as the years went on, it was easier to worm out of those two. She usually had work days cutting too close to the holidays to have the time to go all the way to Georgia, spend two to three days, and come all the way back to Illinois.

 She hadn’t been so lucky to escape the holiday trip for Christmas however. She rarely was lucky enough to escape it. Her dad knew she hated it and he managed to talk her way out of it sometimes, but he could only make so many plausible excuses for so many years in a row. Her dad had called her this morning on her way to classes to tell her that this was going to be one of the years she had to make an appearance. If not for any other reason except in addition to the mundane holiday traditions, her Uncle Craig was also getting married at the end of the break. She’d accepted it fairly easily, but the thought of being surrounded by nothing but her family for two weeks made her stomach churn.

 Janis was pulled out of her metaphorical rain cloud when her phone began buzzing in her bag. She quickly finished cleaning up and pulled her phone out as she made her way out the door. It was the groupchat for her, Cady, and Damian.

**caddy cakes:** Who’s ready for the BEST holiday break EVER???!!!!

**caddy cakes:** Well 2nd best   
**caddy cakes:** Nothing will ever top last year when Janis won first place in that snowman competition on a technicality 

**disaster gay:** i wasnt there so i dont know what ur talking about   
**disaster gay:** how could it be the best without me?

**caddy cakes:** You make a good point but have you considered….   
**caddy cakes:** You ditched us to spend the holiday with your boyfriend in LA, so it’s the best out of pure spite   
**caddy cakes:** >:P

 She chuckled before remembering that she wouldn’t be spending the holiday with either of them. She’d have to ruin the mood and break the news to her roommates eventually, better sooner than later.

**maleficent’s wife:** not to disappoint anyone but

**disaster gay:** oh no   
**disaster gay:** don’t tell me you agree with her

**maleficent’s wife:** no, it’s worse!   
**maleficent’s wife:** I have to spend the break in Georgia!

 Janis didn’t get to see the responses as she got on her bike, adjusting her helmet and revving the engine before peeling off. Once she arrived to the apartment building, she wasted no time re-opening the chat to read it as she made her way up to the apartment.

**disaster gay:** GASP

**caddy cakes:** Wait!!!!   
**caddy cakes:** What’s in Georgia???

**disaster gay:** CATHOLICS   
**disaster gay:** AND FAMILY   
**disaster gay:** AND C A T H O L I C F A M I L Y

**caddy cakes:** :o!!

**maleficent’s wife:** don’t listen to him, caddy, he’s just being dramatic   
**maleficent’s wife:** they’re not actually THAT bad

 It wasn’t that she hated her family either. She loved her family, it was just that they were  _ exhausting. _

_ “Do you have a boyfriend yet?”  _

_ “Still a lesbian, I see…”  _

_ “When are you going to bring a nice boy over?”  _

_ “I thought you would have grown out of...whatever this is by now.” _

 It was exhausting and Janis wishes she had a way to just convince them to at least stop asking her about it. If she had a  _ girlfriend _ she could bring, then they’d be nice enough not to say anything in front of her. She tried to bring Damian along once, but despite everything they were convinced the two were dating and were constantly grilling him to see that he reached their standards. Suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head. Janis opened her messages with her dad.

**Janis:** yo, pops, can I bring a friend to Georgia?

**Poppa Snarkisian:** I don’t see why not. You thinkin’ of bringing Damian again?

**Janis:** no, I want to bring Caddy

**Poppa Snarkisian:** Oh? Is there something I should know then?

 Janis had a choice to make. She could be honest with her dad, that she wanted to ask Cady to pretend to be her girlfriend to teach the nosy family members a lesson.

 Or she could lie to him and tell him the same lie she planned to tell the rest of their family.

**Janis:** she’s my girlfriend, duh   
**Janis:** kind of thought you already knew ig

**Poppa Snarkisian:** Still it would have been nice to find out before today. Nonetheless you know I love you and Cady both, I’m happy for you two. I’ll call Uncle Craig to let him now we’ll be bringing a third guest with us.   
**Poppa Snarkisian:** See you on Friday, Pumpkin.

**Janis:** yeah, thanks  
**Janis:** I love you too, see you then

 She didn’t bother to reopen the groupchat, she was face to face with the door to the apartment. On the other side of it, was Cady and Damian, probably hiding around the corner. She could hear them shushing each other and whispering “what’s taking her so long?” Janis could still text her dad back and back out, she didn’t even know if Cady would agree to it. Hell! She doesn’t even have an idea of what to offer Cady in return for spending two weeks around smothering southern family, pretending to be dating her of all people.

Suddenly the door opened in front of her and she was staring Cady in the eyes instead of some random spot on the door. Cady looked shocked, “Oh! Janis! We thought you got caught up in traffic or something!”

 Cady threw her arms around Janis shoulders in a tight hug, pulling her into the apartment as Damian reached around them and shut the door. He lifted the two of them in a hug of his own. It was comforting. She could hear one of those stop motion christmas movies playing quietly on the TV, probably the one about rudolf and the dentist elf, it was Cady’s favorite. Without missing a beat, Damian moved away and grabbed the bowl off the counter that most definitely was full of cookies and took a seat on the couch.

 “So, when do you leave for Georgia?”

 “Friday, we’ve only got tonight and tomorrow to enjoy our holiday together,” Now was the time to ask Cady, she looked nervously down the hall to the door to her and Cady’s shared room, “I’m gonna go change, don’t play Frosty without me.”

 Or she could chicken out and postpone it. She still had another day between today and Friday. She quickly unlaced her boots, setting them aside the pile of shoes at the door. She noticed Cady was still standing there in front of her, leaning against the counter and just watching her in silence.

 “Do you want some help packing?”

 That wasn’t what she expected, “Uh...I wasn’t going to start until tomorrow but, sure. Thanks Caddy.”

 Cady followed close behind her as they walked to the bedroom. She wasted no time grabbing Janis’ suitcase from the top of the closet, or trying to at least, Janis had to reach it for her.

 “What’s your family like?”

 “They’re nice. I guess. They love me, but they’re probably exactly what one might expect any southern, catholic-raised family is like. I’m 21 and they still think being a lesbian and going to art school is all a phase,” Janis laughed, “One year I brought damian with me. And they still swore that me and him were an item the  _ entire  _ trip. It’s so tiring being around them, and they’re  _ alway _ breathing down my neck, it’s suffocating and- I’m sorry, I got carried away.”

 “I don’t mind,” Cady was pretty great at packing for trips, Janis was already pretty glad she offered to help, “Is there any way to get out of going?”

 Janis noticed that Cady had her bags were packed beside her own bed,  _ weird, _ she’d have to ask about it later tonight, “Nope.”

 “Are you comfortable with having to go..?”

 “Kind of have to be, Caddy. I don’t have much of a choice and I’m not gonna make it worse for myself by dwelling on it. I wish I had like...a girlfriend or someone that I could come though. Like just so my family can’t  _ pretend _ it’s not true or something, yunno?”

 “What if I went with you?” Cady sounded hesitant, kind of like she hadn’t really decided if she really would go through with it. Janis froze in the middle of changing her clothes, her sweatpants dropping back down to the floor as she straightened her back to look at Cady. Did Cady really just offer to be her fake girlfriend without being prompted or was Janis just going insane? Cady was done packing, instead just standing over the luggage, staring down at it with her back to Janis.

 “What?”

 Cady turned around for a second before whipping back around again, “Oh my god, can you at least finishing pulling your pants up before we finish talking about this!”

 Of course she was embarrassed, Janis chuckled while she pulled the sweatpants up, “Yeah, yeah. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, Africa.”

 “I know, just...it’s weird. It’s really weird.”

 “Well. Pants are up. Now what’s this about you  _ wanting _ to come with me to  _ Georgia _ ?” Janis crossed the room, wrapping her arms around Cady’s waist and resting her head on the shorter girl’s shoulder.

 Cady was  _ definitely _ blushing, if Janis had to guess why she’d put her money on the pants dilemma, “W-Well, I couldn’t really  _ stop _ your family from being huge jerks to you, but I thought that like maybe it would be nice to just...have  _ someone _ that didn’t just think your one big phase that you could talk to. Aside from your dad, of course. And plus you said you’d like, like a girlfriend or someone to prove your family wrong, right?”

 She was wringing her hands, nervous, Janis took her hands into her own, “I was actually gonna ask you if you’d want to come.”

 “Really!?”

 “Yeah, but I was…” Janis was once again faced with a decision, the smart thing to do would be to sit Cady down and have a detailed conversation about the plan she had to make sure she knew what she was getting into before agreeing to it. The other decision was... _ not _ that. Cady had twisted around in her arms to face her, tilting her head in a way that reminded Janis of a puppy.

 Janis was never known to make  _ smart _ decisions.

 “I wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into first,” She swallowed audibly, “Like I said they’re not exactly the most accepting. They’re pretty homophobic a-and they’re...transphobic and...I don’t want you to go and just be uncomfortable and-”

 “Janis. I was out in Northshore, I think I can handle it,” A soft grin that Janis found she couldn’t stop from returning.

 “Fair point. They shouldn’t say anything  _ too _ bad, and obviously we don’t have to tell them about you.”

 Janis realized she was still looking for excuses to somehow back out of this instead of just be honest and tell Cady or any of her family the truth. This was going to be an incredibly stressful two weeks. Cady brought one of Janis’ hands up to her lips, planting a quick kiss on her knuckles, “C’mon, let’s go tell Damian that we’re ditching  _ him _ this year. See how he likes it!”

 She led Janis out of the room, never letting go of her hand. She didn’t say anything, she just thought. Her and Cady were already incredibly affectionate people,  _ so she liked holding her friends’ hands and cuddling with them, sue her,  _ and her and Damian had actively cut down on the affection that one holiday break he went with her and her family still believed they were dating. Maybe she really didn’t need to stress about it, hopefully just being normal with Cady would be enough “evidence” for her family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an early chapter because I've been writing like a chapter a day anyways and I'm on like 7 already and y'all deserve it

 The next morning was a little hectic as they decided what to do while making breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes with blueberry syrup, Janis’ favorite, and Cady set alarms for the next morning. As it stands, their current plan for the day was just to get dressed and go do  _ something _ fun. Janis and Cady were getting dressed in their room while Damian dressed in the bathroom. It was pretty normal routine until Janis noticed Cady had grabbed her jacket, the old one that she’d painted all over from high school, and layered in on top of the thick grey hoodie she was already wearing. Usually, if Cady accidentally grabbed any of Janis’ clothes she’d noticed quickly, put it back, and probably apologize too much, but it was impossible she didn’t know she grabbed Janis’ jacket and she didn’t give a second thought to putting it on.

 “Ready to go, Jan?”

 “Yeah,” It probably wasn’t worth pointing out, it’s not like it mattered if Cady wore her jacket for one trip into the outside world, “Let’s go check on Damian.”

 They decided to spend their last day as a trio walking around the zoo in the snow, which was more for Cady than it was for Janis or Damian. There wouldn’t be any snow in Georgia, her favorite part of winter, and they likely wouldn’t get a chance to go to the zoo either. She was substantially less disappointed in that fact, but it was a nice treat regardless. But throughout their walk through the zoo, Cady held Janis’ hand  _ a lot _ . Almost a ridiculous amount really, which normally wouldn’t stand out so much, except usually she would also hold Damian’s hands and huddle up to him in the cold. Janis decided to drop it, she didn’t have a plausible reason as to why Cady would be more touchy than usual so therefore she concluded she was just making things up for some reason. After the zoo, Cady insisted they go to an art museum for Janis since it was  _ her _ family they’d have to suffer through for two weeks. 

 The second they stepped into the museum, Cady took off to the little coffee shop. They wouldn’t be allowed to leave until they finished the drinks, but some nice hot chocolate and coffee would be nice after spending literally five hours in the snow to look at animals. Janis was going to follow Cady until Damian grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, he had a serious look on his face. 

_  Uh oh. _

 “Are you sure about bringing Cady to Georgia?”

 “What? Yes, I am, Dam. It was her idea anyways,” She didn’t really understand why they were whispering, it’d be impossible for Cady to hear them from the coffee shop.

 “Just because she offered doesn’t mean it’s smart, she’s  _ Caddy _ . I love her but she’s kind of naive.”

 “Dam, it’ll be fine, okay? We’re not gonna tell anyone that she’s trans.”

 “And what about the other thing?”

 “What other thing?”

 Damian looked her up and down, he didn’t look impressed in the least bit, “Jan.”

 “Oh, come on, Damian,” Realization struck, “I do  _ not _ have a crush on Cady again. I told you that crap went away when she ditched the art show for her little party.”

 “Whatever helps you sleep at night. But does  _ she _ know that?”

 “Why does it matter? It’s in the past?”

 “God, you two really are the most oblivious creature son the planet. What would you do without me?” Damian grabbed her by the shoulders, “Jan, that girl is like in love with you. Like  _ in love _ in love with you.”

 It would make sense, Janis had to admit. It’d explain why Cady offered to go on the trip first, why she was wearing Janis’ jacket, and why she was being so much more affectionate than normal.

 Except for the fact that Cady was definitely  _ not _ in love with her. Cady liked sporty, conventionally attractive, people who lived life like they lived in a storybook and liked to ignore the harsh realities of life. Like Aaron from Northshore or that cheerleader girl Mac-something or other from their freshman year of college. Janis definitely had  _ none _ of those qualities, she in fact possessed the  _ opposite _ qualities.

 “You’re delirious. Cady is  _ not _ interested in me, dude.”

 “Oh, Janis. Poor...sweet...stupid, Janis. Cady most certainly  _ is _ into you, and while I’m fairly sure you are too, I also believe that it’s your choice what to do and all that,” Damian’s face went dark, “But also if you break her heart, Jan, I will not hesitate to cut you down where you stand.”

 And with that, Damian left Janis by herself in the entryway while he found a booth to sit at in the coffee shop. Janis sighed as she began walking to meet her friends, Damian has officially lost his marbles. They made quick work of the museum, it wasn’t nearly as large as the zoo and it didn’t change so much from the last time they visited. At least at the zoo  _ something _ changed between every trip. Cady and Damian were lounging on the couch already, throwing popcorn at each other and attempting to catch it in their mouths. Janis stayed back in the kitchen, she was in charge of making the hot chocolate since according to both friends, no one did it better than her and her dad.

 “Janis! Your dad’s calling you!” Cady’s hand shot up above the couch, Janis’ had vibrating softly in it.

 Janis brought the mugs of cocoa to the living room, handing the tray off to Damian as she accepted her phone and walked back into the kitchen, “What’s up?”

 “Hey, kiddo! Just calling to ask you a question for Craig,” She could hear her dad shuffling through papers, he was probably filing away some last minute paperwork, “He wants to know if Cady wants to wear a tux or a dress to the wedding. He asked about you as well, but I assumed you’d want a tux. I can always correct that though if I was wrong.”

 Janis froze, she almost forgot about the wedding part of the trip. Quietly she was thankful it was her Uncle Craig getting married and not literally anyone else, he was always the nice one. Nice enough to even ask what she wanted to wear to it and not just assume she’d want a frilly dress.

 “Uh..no, yeah, that’ll work. I-I’ll ask Cady, give me a minute.”

 “Ask me what?” Janis almost screamed, not realizing Cady had gotten up from the couch and entered the kitchen, “My uncle’s getting married and we have to go to it. He wants to know if you’re gonna need a dress or a tux.”

 “Oh! Oh, a wedding? Really? Wow, okay, a dress is fine,” Cady hopped up and sat on the countertop, swinging her legs.

 Janis smiled at her before responding to her dad, “Cady said dress. Oh, and hey, any idea what colors? It doesn’t really matter, I’m just curious, yknow?”

 “Yeah, I...I  _ think _ he said something about like, red, white, and blue? Very patriotic, you know how they are.”

 “Right. Also, since when was Uncle Craig even dating anyone? I haven’t seen or heard  _ anything _ about a girlfriend from him?”

 “Ooooh yeah, it’s all very hush hush and sudden if you ask me. Mawmaw said they haven’t even met the fiancee. We won’t know who she is until the wedding. It’s all very dramatic, Craig’s afraid Mawmaw and Pawpaw won’t like her or something so he’s not giving them a window to try and “ruin” this for them. But apparently, he’s been dating her for a few years now.”

 Janis scrunched her face up, this was all just asking for a disaster. She understood where her uncle was coming from, but her grandparents would probably only make it so much harder on him after hiding his girlfriend from them for so long. She was absolutely not ready to have to witness this all come crashing down. She was jolted out of her thoughts by a warm hand, locking fingers with her clammy free hand. Cady was grinning up at her from the counter, pulling her closer so she could put her other hand on Janis’ shoulder. She mouthed “are you okay,” she was worried, of course she was.

 Janis nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, I can only imagine the mess the wedding will be. Mawmaw isn’t happy to be left out of the loop, huh?”

 Her dad laughed heartily, “You know it. Okay, I have to go, I still have to finishing making some photocopies and then I have to double check all the files and- I just have a lot of work, see you tomorrow, Pumpkin. Tell Cady hello for me!”

 “Okay, later, dad,” Her dad hung up and Janis waited a moment before setting the phone on the counter beside Cady, “He wanted me to tell you hello for him.”

 “Why’d he wait until you guys were hanging up to say it!? Now I can’t say hello back!”

 “You have his number, you could just text him, you know?”

 Cady wasted no time, pulling her phone out of her pocket and typing up a storm. When she finished she showed the conversation to Janis, “Your dad’s so nice.”

**Cady:** Hello Mr.Sarkisian!!!!

**Mr.Sarkisian:** Hello, Cady. How have you been?

**Cady:** Good   
**Cady:** Thank you for letting me come with you and Janis to Georgia!!

 A pit formed in Janis’ stomach, she hoped her dad didn’t somehow tell Cady that he thought they were dating.

**Mr.Sarkisian:** Of course, you’re family now. I’m glad Janis found someone who can handle her hard-headedness. :)

_  Close call. _

 The rest of the night was spent watching every last christmas movie they could find, no matter how bad or cheaply made they were, and singing along to the songs even when they didn’t know the lyrics. They must have fallen asleep at some point because when Janis wakes up to her alarm at 7am, she’s buried under a mess of blankets and limbs on the couch with the TV still on. The alarm from her phone was muffled, but Janis could feel it vibrating in her pocket. Someone groaned but Janis really wasn’t awake enough to tell if it was Cady or Damian.

 “Somebody turn your fucking phone off, it’s too early for this shit,” So it was Damian.

 Janis groggily sat up, which was no easy feat when Cady was passed out across her legs and Damian had a deathgrip around both of them. She fished around in her pockets looking for her phone to silence it. Damian let out a mumbled “thank you” before pressing his face into the throw pillow harder. Janis rolled her eyes and shook Cady gently.

 “Caddy, c’mon, get up. We have to get ready.”

 Cady pulled Janis’ waist close to her, “Five more minutes.”

 “We don’t have five more minutes, Caddy. The plane takes off in an hour, we gotta get dressed and go.”

 Reluctantly, the girl got up, examining the room with half-lidded eyes. Janis hated the warm feeling pooling in her gut at the sight. Cady’s bedhead was unrealistically pretty, and her shirt had ridden up just enough for her to see the top half of a lioness with a sun rising behind it, a tattoo Janis had designed herself for Cady. Distracting herself from the absolutely, totally platonic thoughts and feelings she was having, Janis felt a swell of pride at the sight of the tattoo. Cady and Damian had deemed it necessary that should they get any tattoos, Janis was either the one to design them or at the least, approve of the chosen design. They had gotten their first tattoos together, matching ones designed by Janis, but since then, Janis was the only one to have gotten anymore. One of which was a crudely drawn lion on her wrist from Cady, who wasn’t much of an artist as you might expect. Cady had been so embarrassed when Janis came home with it tattooed, having given up and expecting Janis to just get something else of her choosing.

 “You’re staring, Jan,” Damian mumbled from the pillow behind her, how he  _ knew _ she was staring was beyond her.

 Janis raised her line of sight to be met with bright, ocean blue eyes, Cady was staring back at her, “Whatcha’ thinkin’ about?”

 “Uh, your tattoo,” It wasn’t a complete lie, “I was thinking of designing some more tattoos soon, maybe I will while we’re in Georgia. Now c’mon, we gotta make sure we’ve packed everything.”

 The next 20 minutes was a blur as both her and Cady ran around the apartment, checking their bags, packing last minute necessities, and getting ready. Meanwhile Damian got to take his sweet time, getting up and making coffee and putting on the hallmark channel. He loved to make fun on the “overwhelmingly straight christian-ness” of the movies. Before Janis knew it, she was getting a text from her dad.

**Poppa Snarkisian:** I’m outside! Do you and Cady need help with your bags?

**Janis:** no, Damian’s here   
**Janis:** we’ll be down there in a minute, Cady’s finishing her hair 

 Janis popped her head into the bathroom, Cady was standing in front of the mirror, braiding her hair and so focused on getting it “just right” that she was sticking her tongue out.

 “Hey.”

 Cady jumped, whacking Janis with a washcloth once she realized what had scared her, “Oh my god! You scared me, Janis!”

 “My dad’s here. I’m gonna get Damian to help bring the bags down, you can meet us once you finish.”

 “Okay, thank you.”

 “By the way,” Janis waited for Cady to turn her attention to her once again, “You were sticking your tongue out again. It was cute.”

 And with a wink, Janis made her exit, grabbing her bags and asking Damian to grab Cady’s. Once they were outside, Janis immediately spotted her dad, leaning against an  _ old _ black chevy pickup, her old truck. It took all of her willpower not to drop her bags on the spot and run to hug him. It felt like so long since she’d seen him, he was always so busy with work or she was so busy with classes or work or Damian’s shows or  _ something _ .

 He saw her and Damian and quickly made his way to them, taking some of the bags from Janis, “Heya, Pumpkin! Damian! It’s been too long!”

 He pulled both of them into a hug, “Oh! And Damian, I have some leftover sweets from a holiday party at my house, you know where the key is. You’re welcome to whatever you want in the kitchen.”

 “Janis, I think I’m in love with your dad,” Janis punched him in the arm as they all laughed, placing all the bags into the back of the truck.

 “So! Where’s the lucky girl, huh?” All of the color in Janis’ face drained at her dad’s question, Damian was clearly very interested in the topic if the glare he was giving her told her anything.

 “Cady was still working on her hair, I’m sure she’ll be down here soon enough.”

 Damian’s eyebrows shot up, he immediately pulled out his phone, Janis prepared mentally for the imminent verbal lashing. She peeked at her messages once he finished typing.

**disaster gay:** as soon as u land in georgia we are TALKING about what the hell ur dad just said

 Janis simply nodded to him in response. She let Damian and her dad catch up while they waited for Cady, Janis had two weeks to talk and catch up with her dad. Damian would probably only have right now to talk to him. She was really happy they got along as well as they did, her dad had almost immediately accepted Damian into their family. Soon enough Cady met the three of them outside, and after a quick goodbye to Damian, they all piled into the truck to head to the airport. Unlike Cady, who’d flown on plenty of planes going to and from Africa and a few other countries, or Janis’ dad, who flew across the country often for work, Janis  _ hated _ flying. She hated  _ heights. _ She would much rather simply drive to Georgia and back but that would “take up too much time” and “cost more than it’s worth.” Thankfully, as they boarded the plane, her dad made sure he sat in the window seat. Janis almost sat in the middle but realized she may need to vomit at some point, so she probably  _ needed _ the aisle seat.

 “I’m probably gonna watch some of the videos my parents sent me from Africa for the trip,” Cady explained as she pulled out her ipad and two sets of earbuds, “I brought a second pair of headphones for emergency, but...I know you’re nervous and  _ I know _ the nature documentary stuff isn’t your thing really, but if you think it might help distract you, you’re free to watch with me.”

 “Thanks. I’ll take you up on the offer, but don’t get too upset if I don’t understand the in-depth analysis on elephant migrations.”

 Cady shoved at her shoulder, “Stop, that was  _ one _ video!”

 They sat in silence for a few minutes after the first video started playing, Cady laid her head on Janis’ shoulder, situating the screen between them, “Besides, I haven’t held any of that stuff against you ever.”

 “I know. I’m just giving you a hard time, Caddy. You know I love you to death.”


	3. Chapter 3

 Janis was grateful the plane ride was relatively short. Two hours was enough for her to survive without vomiting once, Cady on the other hand clearly thought it was too short. Complaining that she didn’t get to watch all the videos from her parents, so now she’d have to watch them throughout the trip. Janis was shocked to find that most of the videos so far had been much more action packed than the others, several of the videos they had watched on the plane were lions or cheetahs hunting. Which was definitely something she could get into watching more often. After disembarking the plane, which took longer than usual because Cady insisted she could get her own carry-on bags down herself when both Janis, her dad, and presumably anyone else on the plane with eyes could tell, knew that was a lie, and retrieving their bags from the carousel, they were released into the wild. Or rather, they’d officially landed in Georgia, the place of no return.

 Her dad took the lead as the tallest, guiding them through crowds and looking for their ride, Uncle Craig. Normally Janis led them, while her dad checked through his emails and made any calls he needed to about work, this time however, Janis had to stay back or risk Cady getting lost in the sea of people. 

 “My Uncle Craig’s the one picking us up. He’s kind of like a straight, middle-aged, Damian.”

 “Craig, that’s the one who’s getting married, yes?”

 “Yup, secret fiancee and all that,” Janis stumbled and ran straight into her dad.

 He nudged her, a smile clear on his face as he pointed ahead of them, “Wanna let Cady guess which one is our ride?”

 Ahead of them there was several people with signs, clearly waiting for their respective family or friends or clients. One of them however was a 6ft tall man who, aside from his bleached blonde hair and thick mustache, would otherwise look like her dad was looking into a mirror. A mirror that changed his nice professional clothes to a ratty old baseball cap, a tacky blue hawaiian shirt, and khaki cargo shorts at least. In his hands was a hot pink poster board with “SNARK-isians” painted on in barely legible, glittery purple paint. He had made that sign when Janis was in middle school, when she had “officially denounced” all things “girly and pretty,” and refused to use any other sign since when [picking them up for the holidays. There was also a small sheet of presumably loose leaf paper taped to the bottom of it with “AND KATIE” written in black sharpie.

 Janis could hear Cady snickering behind her, even as her uncle was approaching them, arms open and a cocky grin on his face. Her dad wasted no time pulling his brother into a long hug, she forgot how close they used to be.

 “Welcome home, little brother!”

 “I’m ten minutes younger than you, Craig,” The brothers parted and Craig quickly scooped Janis into a hug, “Yeah, exactly. You’re the babiest brother. Also look at how tall your girl’s gotten! She’s almost as tall as us!”

 Janis rolled her eyes, “And I’ll be staying  _ almost _ as tall, I’m 21, I won’t be growing any taller anytime soon.”

 Craig ignored her, turning his attention to Cady next to Janis, she looked nervous and uncomfortable. She probably felt like she was intruding.

 “And you must be Cady, I’m Craig. The handsome twin.”

 He reached out his hand to shake hers and Janis quietly thanked whoever was in charge that granted her uncle with the common sense to  _ not _ just hug anyone and everyone without knowing their boundaries first. Cady’s anxiety on the matter melted away, replaced with a sunshiney grin that made Janis’ heart soar and-  _ no, Cady’s smile did not make Janis’ heart soar, that wasn’t right. _

 The others were oblivious to Janis’ mental, totally platonic, crisis. 

 “You spelled my name wrong on your sign.”

 “It adds to the charm, I’m not making a new sign,” He said matter-of-factly.

 Craig grabbed two of their bags, one of Cady’s and one of her dad’s and led them out of the airport to a burgundy minivan.

 “Never took you for a minivan guy, Craig,” Janis’ dad joked as they loaded the bags into the back.

 “Of course not, Brandon. I’d never trade my corvette in my life, the van is our dear sweet mother’s. She wanted to make sure we could fit everyone and all of your luggage, took my keys and everything. As if I’d let  _ you _ into my baby to begin with.”

 Janis smiled, she could hear the smugness in her uncle’s tone. As they all clambered into the van and began their trip to the house, Janis found herself relaxing and definitely beginning to forget why she was so worried about the trip at all. Cady was sitting next to her in the backseat, watching more videos from her parents with her head on Janis’ shoulder and her freehand interlocked with Janis’ between them. Her dad and uncle were chattering on about everything they could think of, how work as been, hobbies, if her dad had been seeing anyone (he hasn’t), her dad tried asking about the Secret Fiancee but Craig dodged the question. Instead he just started singing along with whatever country song was playing on the radio and ignoring her dad’s questions.

 She never said he was  _ good _ at dodging the questions.

 Janis fell asleep for the rest of the ride, only woken up once they’d arrived at the house around noon. No one else met them outside to offer help with the bags, she was both surprised and not surprised. Maybe none of her cousins or her Aunt Leslie or Huggie were even there yet, although the idea of her aunt  _ not _ being there was an eighth wonder in itself, she was  _ always _ over there. Cady and Janis barely had time to set down their bags in the house before Craig was ushering them back out the front door.

 “Ah, ah, ah! Janis, you know the rules!” He pointed at the top of the doorway where a piece of mistletoe was hug nicely above the threshold of the house with a neat little bow.

_ Fuck. _

 Cady was beet red and fiddling with her hands, she was likely trying to think of some kind of apology or something to get them out of the awkward situation. Only Janis knew better,  _ no one _ got out of passing under the mistletoe as a couple. She lifted Cady’s face by her chin and shot her an apologetic look, hopefully she understood the silent apology. It was a short and quick kiss, Cady barely had the time to reciprocate before Janis pulled away. Her heart was beating out of her chest but she couldn’t risk her family finding out the truth. Cady would understand.

 She made a mental note that Cady tasted like peppermint and vanilla, probably from the coffee she had on the way here.

 Craig smiled and nodded, moving out of the way for the two girls to reenter the building. Immediately Janis heard the unmistakable, excited bounding of Rose running through the house towards them. Without missing a beat, Janis whipped around just in time to see the red setter jumping up on her. His fur graying so much he looked like he was wearing a white mask.

 “Hey, buddy! Hey! I missed you too!” She was kneeling on the floor, holding the dog tightly, part of her had been worried he’d died between now and her last visit, “Have you been a good boy? Have you?”

 She could hear her uncle, dad, and Cady laughing at her baby voice. Cady knelt down next to her, running a hand through Rose’s fur. The old dog stopped jumping all over Janis in favor for sniffing the new person and licking her face. Cady giggled with glee, almost falling backwards when Rose shifted all of his weight onto her.

 “Hello! How are you?” Leave it up to Cady to talk to animals like they’ll respond back, “What’s his name?”

 “Rose. Janis named him, he’s her dog after all.”

 “Oh! He’s yours?” She was clearly  _ trying _ to look at Janis, but Rose wouldn’t sit still.

 “Rose, down,” Rose stopped jumping around and sat, looking back up at Janis expectantly, she began petting him softly, “Good boy. And yeah, I got him when I was like….eight. Our first apartment in Chicago had a not pets allowed rule though so we had to leave him here and we just...never really got around to bringing him up after we moved. We were always too busy or something.”

 “Is that my granddaughter I hear or am I just hearing things?” Janis stood up to see her grandfather walking out from the garage door, a big smile nearly hidden behind his grey beard.

 He came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the room, his smile gone. He was looking at Cady, as she slowly stood up beside Janis, much to the disappointment of Rose who whined in response. Janis took Cady’s hand in her own and cleared her throat, “This is...Cady, Pawpaw…”

 The silence was tense and uncomfortable and Janis felt like it just might suffocate her. Her grip on Cady’s hand got tighter as her grandfather moved closer to them. She could hear her dad shuffle awkwardly on his own feet, like he was getting ready to move between them and her grandfather. The old man had never been violent, but none of them really knew what to expect from him with this. He stopped at an arms-length away from the two of them, he smelled like sawdust and cigar smoke, he must’ve been working on something in the garage. He locked his grey eyes with Cady’s for a moment, almost like a challenge of sorts. Janis held back a chuckle at the thought of that.

 Soon enough, he made a move, laughing heartily and lifting Cady up in a hug. The smaller girl let out a squeak. This time Janis did laugh out loud, she heard her uncle and dad let out a breath they must’ve been holding. 

 “Name’s Hugh. You already seem much better than the last...friend Janis brought over. Damian or something? He was so flamboyant! Not that he wasn’t a good person, he seemed nice I suppose, but it’s just hard with all the kids around,” He was talking as he went through and hugged Janis and her dad, “You know how kids are, they’re young, they just don’t understand that kind of stuff!”

 Janis let out a huff, she wasn’t about to argue with the old man. He wouldn’t listen even if she tried. And the kids understood just fine, if anything they understood too well because some of them would pretend  _ not _ to understand around their parents. 

 She grabbed Cady’s hand again, having let go when her grandfather began hugging everyone, “Hey, me and Cady are gonna go put our stuff up and get situated, which room do we have?”

 Usually it was the room closest to her grandparents’ room, it always was that room when she stayed over for as long as she could remember, but she had a feeling they might have decided to put her somewhere else since she had a  _ girlfriend _ with her.

 “Don’t tell me you forgot where your room is? I know it’s been a while, Jannie, but-”

 Janis grabbed her bags as soon as her grandfather pulled out the old nickname, “No, nevermind. Forget I asked, we’re leaving, bye! Don’t take Rose for a walk without me, dad!”

 “Wouldn’t dream of it, Pumpkin!”

 Cady awkwardly tailed behind Janis as she was guided through the hallways, Janis held the door to the room open for Cady to enter first. She was walking in small circles, trying to take in everything about the room. The walls were an off-white but had paintings of varying skill and detail lining them, the ceiling had glow in the dark stars and planets stuck to it, a few stains from where some had fallen off. The bed had a comforter with a pattern reminiscent of the tacky, bright-colored floors from bowling alleys or arcades.

 “I like it, reminds me of all those old high school movies somehow?”

 “It’s called nostalgia, Cady, pretty sure you’ve heard of it,” Janis set the bags down on the bed and laughed as Cady shoved her over the snide comment, “You can put your stuff in the bottom drawers of the dresser, I’ll take the top two.”

 They began unpacking and organizing everything in silence, halfway through unpacking Janis realized there wasn’t an air mattress on the floor. She got a sinking feeling in her gut, it’s not like she and Cady never shared a bed before, but something about the idea that her family was expecting her to left a bad taste in her mouth about everything. 

 She was lying. To everyone. Her dad included.

 Janis sat on the bed, fighting the urge to start biting her nails. She knows she flinched when Cady settled next to her, the added weight shifting the bed under her. Cady’s hand rested on her shoulder, “You okay, Jan?”

 “Yeah, I’m just...sorry about my grandpa.”

 “It’s fine, honestly, I think I was expecting worse from him. But that’s why I’m here! Help you deal with your family’s crap. Besides, you know they’re the ones in the wrong. There’s nothin’ wrong with you or me, and it’s no one’s problem but their own if they have a problem with who you are,” She had a soft smile and a small part of Janis kind of wanted to kiss her.

_ But absolutely just in a friend way of course. _

 Instead, Janis pulled Cady into a tight hug. She wouldn’t cry even though part of her felt like she might. She let out a heavy sigh, holding Cady closer and burying her face in her hair. She clearly had used Damian’s shampoo this morning, she smelled like the overpowering citrus-y stuff their roommate used religiously, and Janis couldn’t help but laugh.

 “What?”

 “Nothing, you just...you used Dam’s shampoo instead of your own again. I wonder if you packed the wrong one as well,” They parted and Cady looked confused, she grabbed a chunk of her own hair and brought it up to her face to smell it herself, “Oh my god, he’s going to kill me when we get back to Chicago!”

 They laughed for a while more before Janis spoke up again, “Thank you...by the way.”

 “For what?”

 “Just for...like what you said and all.”

 Cady looked bashful, “Oh, please. I just told you what you already know. But if you want, you can thank me by taking me a tour of this quaint little town.”

 Janis laughed again, “Tomorrow. Today, I’m just going to sleep the time away. After we walk Rose at least, his walk is at one every day.”

 “Oh, he has a schedule, huh?”

 “Of course he has a schedule. He’s almost 13, we’ve got to make sure he’s getting his exercise in,” Janis suddenly remembered she was supposed to text Damian after they landed, “Tell you what, we can take him for an early walk if you want. Go ask my dad for helping getting his harness on, I’ll finish unpacking and meet you guys outside.”

 “Deal,” A quick fistbump and then Cady was out of the room.

 Janis pulled out her phone, shooting a text to Damian and praying he’d reply quickly.

**maleficent’s wife:** sorry, we landed like two hours ago   
**maleficent’s wife:** we’ve been unpacking and stuff

**disaster gay:** its ok   
**disaster gay:** so why the fuck did ur dad call caddy a “lucky girl” huh?

**maleficent’s wife:** listen, you can’t tell this to ANYONE okay? not even Caddy

**disaster gay:** ok ok miss dramatic just spill the tea already or ill ask brandon

**maleficent’s wife:** ew don’t call my dad by his first name   
**maleficent’s wife:** okay but listen, my family’s under the impression that Cady’s my girlfriend…

**disaster gay:** EXCUSEZ-MOI????

**maleficent’s wife:** I just wanted to prove to them it’s not just a phase!!! it’s just like a dumb prank it’s fine!!!

**disaster gay:** it better b fine!!! did u tell caddy????

 Janis stopped for a moment, she’s pretty sure Cady knows. She had offered to play the part herself, sure they didn’t have any in-depth conversation or planning go into it, but Janis was fairly sure Cady wasn’t so oblivious to not realize that her family thought they were dating. Not after the mistletoe or meeting Janis’ grandfather at least.

**maleficent’s wife:** yes??? of course??? it was her idea Actually

**disaster gay:** hm ok   
**disaster gay:** ur safe for now but ur on thin fucking ice sarkisian ttyl

**maleficent's wife:** okay Mr.Dramatic   
**maleficent’s wife:** I’ll text you if anything crazy happens

 Her conversation with Damian now out of the way, Janis rushed to finish putting away the remaining pieces of clothing. She met Cady and her dad outside, Cady was holding the leash. Rose immediately attempted to run to her once he saw her come out the door, nearly pulling Cady down. Janis reminded herself again that everything would be fine. Cady was her best friend and while this may be a little awkward and mildly uncomfortable at times, nothing was gonna come between them. Not since the entirety of their junior year at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janis' dad (Brandon) and Craig are identical twins! Also I would die for Rose but wouldn't we all?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TW: A lot of heavy homophobia referenced and shown; the t slur and f slur are both used**

 The walk was uneventful, Cady had tried her best to walk Rose but he had proved to strong and stubborn for her, nearly pulling his leash out of her hands on multiple occasions. If Janis and her dad hadn’t been with her, they likely would be walking around for hours looking for the setter. As she stepped back into the house, Janis was greeted with a warmth and the smell of gingerbread filling her senses. Well, her grandmother must be awake. There was a clatter from the kitchen and Janis heard the soft footsteps she associated with her grandmother come around the corner.

 “Janis! Love, how’ve you been! It’s been so long since you’ve come down with Brandon!” Her grandmother grabbed her face and kissed her on the forehead before hugging her, she smelled almost overwhelmingly of gingerbread.

 “Hey, Mawmaw...yeah, I’ve just been  _ so _ busy with work and college, you know?” Her laugh was awkward and her hug was stiff, “This is Cady, by the way.”

 Janis reached an arm out to pull Cady closer, she hesitated before continuing, “She’s my girlfriend.”

 “Oh. Hello, I’m Linda,” Janis pretended to not notice the clear disappointment in her grandmother’s face, “Janis, I just finished baking some gingerbread, you know where the icing and candies are if you want to decorate them.”

 Cady looked like she wanted to say something but her grandmother whisked away, out the door they came in from. Perhaps they should be grateful the old woman acknowledged Cady at all.

 “Sorry, I don’t really know what that was,” Janis led her faux-girlfriend into the kitchen. Cady took a seat at the island while Janis dug through a few cabinets to pull out the decorations. Cady seemed content to ignore the awkward encounter at the door and simply watch Janis begin decorating the gingerbread people.

 She paused halfway through to take a break, pouring herself some sweet tea she found in the fridge and making some oolong tea for Cady. When she returned from their room with the box of tea, Cady was studying the finished cookies on the counter.

 “Are they all different artists and people you know?” Cady said without looking up.

 Janis nodded as she began making the tea, “Yeah. Frida Kahlo, Marsha P. Johnson, Diana Prince, yunno...all the iconic women.”

 “Wonder Woman?”

 “Hell yeah, Wonder Woman! Diana Prince was baby’s first big lesbian crush!” She jabbed Cady in the side, Cady jumped, almost knocking into the tray of cookies, “No! Don’t you dare, Jan!”

 Janis eyed her suspiciously, weighing the risks, “Okay, fine. White flag, I surrender. But  _ only _ because I haven’t finished the cookies and I don’t want you breaking them somehow.”

 “Ha ha, funny. What are you planning on doing for the rest of them?”

 Janis handed Cady her tea, it was in a mug shaped like a cartoony polar bear in a scarf, “Usually I make the rest look like my family. Me, dad, Uncle Craig, Mawmaw, Pawpaw, Huggie, my Aunt Leslie, Phillip, Tanner, Viv, etcetera etcetera.”

 “That’s cute! How many do you have to do for everyone?”

 “Normally, I’d need like 15, but since you’re here I’ll need 16,” She began decorating one to look like herself, she could see Cady staring down at the cookies confusedly, “Dude, you alright?”

 “You do realize you only have 15 blank gingerbread left right?”

 “What?” She set down her current one, counting the cookies laid out in front of her, “Fuck. Okay, uh...hm, okay well, Leslie can deal with not having a cookie this year.”

 “What? Janis no, just don’t make one of me!”

 “Oh, trust me. Leslie deserves it, “Unphased, Janis resumed her decorating, “Full intent to sound like an ass, but my Aunt Leslie is a bitch.”

 “Janis!” Cady smacked her arm, clearly genuinely unamused on the matter, but Janis couldn’t help but chuckle.

 Her dad walked in, making a beeline for the fridge, “What are we talking about in here?”

 “Nothing!”

 “How much of a raging biotch your sister is.”

 Cady smacked her arm again, her dad was smiling as he poured a cup of sweet tea across from them, “I mean...I shouldn’t say but...Janis has a point, Cady.”

 Cady was looking at her dad like he’d grown a second head. Janis couldn’t stop from laughing, leaning against the counter so she wouldn’t double over.

 “Tell her about the last christmas I was here.”

 “What happened last christmas- wait,  _ when _ was the last christmas you were here?”

 “Junior year,” Janis picked up the next cookie, soon-to-be her gingerbread dad, “Fun year. You’re lucky she wasn’t here today. She pretty much  _ lives _ here.”

 Cady winced at the mention of junior year, but if Janis’ dad noticed he ignored it, “So here’s what happened. Everyone knew about what had happened in middle school and Janis made sure they knew that Regina wasn’t  _ just _ making up stuff, that she was in fact gay. And she just kind of ignored or evaded their questions about boys all the time. Until junior year at least, when she met you”

 Janis froze, nearly dropping the cookie in her hand, she forgot nearly the whole cause  _ behind _ the entire fiasco that year could be traced back to Cady.

 “She was just...so excited and happy, not to imply she wasn’t before but you know how she is. But there was this new student, a girl from Africa who was  _ way _ too good at math and animal sciences to be  _ so _ bad at talking to people, no offense to you, Cady, just telling it how I was told,” That comment earned Janis an elbow to her side and a grin from Cady, “And Janis just thought you were the cutest thing since Rose was a pup! And she began answering and replying to all the questions, correcting them on pronouns and everything and telling everyone about  _ you,  _ and uh...some took to it better than others...”

 Janis scoffed, “Yeah, Craig gave me a high five whereas Leslie threw a tantrum and wouldn’t let Viv in the same room as me for the rest of the break. We’ll see if that changes this year, I suppose.”

 “Yeah. Leslie said Janis was just crying out for attention or something, and when  _ that _ didn’t garner the reaction she wanted, then she started calling her dangerous and a predator and keeping her daughter away from or under  _ heavy _ supervision with Jan. Thing is, she only says all this stuff behind Janis’ back, she like pretends she doesn’t mind to her face and...” Brandon let out a heavy sigh, “I tried talking to Pawpaw about maybe just...not letting her come over while we were here, Jan. He said he couldn’t stop her if he tried, not unless Mawmaw also put her foot down…”

 Janis hated his sad tone, she didn’t want anyone’s pity, “Well, I don’t know if you saw Mawmaw’s reaction when I introduced Cady, but she probably won’t be putting her foot down anytime soon.”

 “I don’t think it was  _ that _ bad, Jan…”

 This time, Janis did drop the cookie in her hands, “Cady. If I didn’t force her to acknowledge you, she probably wouldn’t have even said as much as she did to you! Did you even see how she looked at you? I might as well have trashed her precious little porcelain christmas town!”

 She could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes, “I’m going to my room, I’ll finish the cookies later.”

 She stormed off, she needed to be alone. When she walked into her room, she saw Rose laying on her bed, his tail wagging as she came in and shut the door behind her. She kicked her shoes off and collapsed face down onto the bed, it smelled like wet dog. Her dad must’ve washed Rose after the walk. The old setter nuzzling the back of her head and neck, she began combing her hands through his still damp fur.

 “Hey bud. At least they treat you right, huh?”

 There was no stopping the tears. She buried her face in Rose’s fur, ignoring the wet dog smell, and let out a choked sob. Try as she might, her family would probably never accept her. She would just always be broken or ruined or dirty or just  _ not right _ to them. She doesn’t know how long she laid there, crying. But she knows that next time she opened her eyes, the sunlight pouring in from the window was gone and Rose was no longer curled up in the bed with her. Groggily and slowly, Janis got up from the bed, changing out of her day clothes into some sweatpants and the first shirt she grabs from one of her drawers. The shirt felt a little tighter than it should have, but she shrugged it off.

 She made her way into the living room. The first thing Janis realized is that her Uncle Craig wasn’t the only one sitting in front of the fireplace roasting marshmallows. At first glance, she thought it might be the mystery fiancee for some reason, but in taking her time to actually think about it she noticed they were wearing the eyesore that was a Northshore lions letterman.

_ Cady. _

 That’s right, Cady was there. The next thing she realized was her dad was very clearly staring and trying  _ not _ to laugh at her for some reason. Janis already knew what he was smiling about and she absolutely didn’t want to acknowledge it.

 “Nice shirt, Jan,” Good thing she didn’t need to, Craig did it for her. She wanted to smack the smug grin off his face.

 She looked down to see the shirt she was wearing was a white tee with “I am filled with CALCU-LUST” printed in bright, bold, pink across the front. A joke gift she and Damian had bought for Cady’s birthday one year. She heard Cady cackle from the fireplace.

 “It’s Cady’s actually. Now if you excuse me, I’m going change  _ again _ ,” She could hear Cady come padding down the hallway after her so she left the door open.

 Cady sat on the bed while Janis changed, “I made the same mistake when Damian was here. Put on one of his drag shirts on accident. Hopefully I didn’t stretch this shirt out too much.”

_ I probably did. _

 “It’s okay, are you feeling any better?”

 “Yeah..”

“Good. I figured you needed some time to yourself, I tried coming check on you earlier but you were asleep,” A beat, “Your Uncle Craig’s cool. He and your dad have been telling me stories about your childhood. Oh! And I...finished the cookies for you. Your Pawpaw asked me too? I think he assumed I had the same kind of talent you have.”

 Cady laughed, smiling up at Janis who was standing in front of her now after finally getting one of her own shirts on. Janis heard footsteps coming down the hall, she doesn’t know what possesses her to grab Cady by the collar of her jacket and pull her close. She knows that halfway to her face, Cady closed her eyes and was definitely expecting a kiss. Instead Janis kisses her cheek,  _ really close to her mouth _ , and with the tilt of their heads, it probably would look like they were kissing from the door.

 “Hey, girls, Hug- Oh! Sorry, uh, sorry,” Her uncle both entered and left the room, closing the door quickly behind him.

 Janis let go of Cady’s collar and took a big step back, Cady looked confused and maybe a little sad. Janis’ heart dropped for a second until she remembered that she was just seeing things because there’s  _ no reason _ for Cady to be sad over that.

 “We should...probably go see what he wanted…” Janis rushed to the door, the tension in the room was driving her up the wall already and it’d barely been a few minutes.

 “Yeah...I guess we should.”

 Janis ignored the twinge of annoyance in Cady’s tone.

 A loud, wheezing laugh echoed through the house. Janis paused for a moment at the door, she didn’t think anymore family would be showing up today. She made a mad dash through the house to the kitchen. Her dad and Craig were sitting at the island as another tall man picked up and examined cookies one by one. He had black hair buzzed down and was wearing a tank top that said “I Flexed And The Sleeves Fell Off” on it that looked like it barely fit.

_ Huggie! _

 “Hey, kiddo! Good job on the gingerbread, as always!” He said without looking up.

 “Actually, I wasn’t alone this time,” She turned around to drag Cady in front of her and put the spotlight on her, “Cady did most of the ones of us and family.”

 “Yeah. I can tell, couldn’t you have at least shown her some pictures of me? I mean,” He lifted the cookie that Janis could only assume was supposed to have his likeness, “I kind of look like Kronk from that disney movie but with no hair.”

 Cady flushed bright red, “I tried my best...Craig and Mr.Sarkisian were describing everyone I hadn’t met. Janis was taking a nap.”

 “Oh, well if you were listening to these two knuckleheads then you did great!” He reached across the counter to ruffle the hair of his brothers, “I’m Huggie by the way. The handsome one.”

 “Nope, already called that one, Hugs,” Craig was quick to shoot down the title.

 “Fine, the oldest.”

 “Got that one too, I’m afraid.”

 Huggie flicked his younger brother in the nose, “Too bad. I’m five years older than you, dick.”

 Cady looked awkwardly between Huggie and Janis, “Is your name... _ really _ Huggie?”

 The large man guffawed at the question, leaving Janis’ dad to answer, “No. It’s actually Hugh Jr. It’s just that….he looks like  _ that _ and no one wants to say “Hugh Jr” all the time.”

 “Are you telling me it’s  _ not _ because I’m so lovable, Brandon?” The older brother shoved at Brandon, nearly toppling him off the stool he was seated on. He turned his attention back to Janis and Cady, “So, Cady, if that’s  _ your _ real name, what’re you doing down here?”

 “Oh! I’m just...Janis’ girlfriend,” Cady let out a nervous chuckle.

 Huggie snapped the gingerbread in his hand in half, it was the blank one Cady had left for Janis to decide what to do with, “You have got to be kidding me. You brought another one?”

 His voice was raising and Janis could see the anger and disgust morph on his face, she grabbed Cady’s hand instinctively. Without missing a beat, Cady squeezed her hand and took a step back, like she knew what was happening before it even really started. Her dad and Craig were standing now as well, the tension in the room making it stuffy an uncomfortable.

 “I heard you bringing another friend this year, but I guess it was just wishful thinking to assume it wouldn’t be another faggot,” He had a sarcastic smile.

 Janis fought the urge to throw up. Instead just moving herself between her uncle and Cady as he stalked up to them. He was tall as hell, he would tower over Cady like a giant and that’s what he wanted. He wanted to intimidate her. Her dad grabbed Huggie’s arm, an attempt to lead him away from the girls, but Huggie just shrugged him off with a scowl.

 “What’s next, huh? A fuckin’ tranny?” Janis could feel Cady’s nails dig into her hand, she was shaking behind her, her uncle continued, “Maybe some lowlife who touches kids or something?”

 She wasn’t going to just standby and let him continue on relentlessly, Janis let go of Cady’s hand and shoved her uncle. He barely moved an inch, he just smiled and laughed, “Oh did I hit a nerve? What are you gonna do? Hit me? Oooh, I’m so scared of the lesbian, oooh.”

 She balled up her fists at her sides, she  _ wanted _ to hit him, that’s for sure. He was in her face, staring her down, definitely waiting for her to do something. Janis wasn’t going to back down, but she didn’t really know what else she could do aside from take a swing. Her dad and Craig tried pulling their brother away again, he shrugged them off  _ again. _

 “Huggie, that’s enough.” Janis could barely hear he dad trying to talk him down, all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and her thoughts as she ran through every possible course of action, “Back. Off.”

Her own voice sounded foreign to her, it’s not she never stood up to assholes before. But usually they were strangers or dickheads she’s only known as the dumb shit they say in class or at work. This was her uncle, she grew up with him, he had been the one to teach her how to drive stick-shift and gave her Rose. A knot formed in her chest.

 “Back off? Girly’s got some balls, maybe  _ she’s _ the tranny,” He laughed again and Janis felt sick, “What if I don’t back off?”

 Without hesitation, Janis kneed him in the crotch. It was an impulse, a  _ literal _ knee-jerk reaction. Her uncle let out a hoarse cough as he reached down and slid down to his knees.

 “Fuck!” He looked up at her, strong-arming through the pain, “You bitch! What the hell’s your problem?!”

 Janis ushered herself and Cady back a few more steps, never taking her eyes off of Huggie.

 “What the hell is going on in here?” Her heart dropped again, her grandfather walked up behind her, he had been woken up clearly, “Hugh! What are you doing on the damn floor?”

 He jutted a finger at Janis, “She fucking kicked me in the balls!”

 “He was asking for it! He was getting in her face and antagonizing her!” Janis had never been more thankful for her Uncle Craig.

 “No, I wasn’t! She’s the one who brought another fag here! It’s not my fault she’s going to ruin christmas  _ again _ !”

 Craig walked up behind them and whispered something Janis couldn’t hear to her grandfather. The old man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Hugh Orville Sarkisian Junior, if you can’t at least  _ act _ civil, then you can forget about staying here. I won’t ban you from christmas or new years, but don’t even think about coming here otherwise unless you can behave.”

 Huggie mumbled something under his breath as he stood back up, he shoved harshly past Janis, knocking her into Cady. He grabbed his bag off the dining table, pausing for a moment, “I’ll be at Ethan’s if anyone needs to fucking know.”

 He slammed both the wood door and the screen door after it, storming out of the house. Janis let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.She turned around to face Cady, taking her hands in her own, “Are you okay? I know that was a lot…”

 “I think I’m gonna go lay down, I’ll see you all in the morning,” Cady leaned up on her toes to kiss Janis on the cheek before hurrying out of the kitchen.

 “Give him some time, he’ll calm down.”

 “He can have all the time in the world for all I care,” Janis swears she can feel the smoke out her ears, she was so angry, Huggie was still going to be at the parties, he said  _ she _ was ruining christmas and no one disputed it, “This is exactly why I haven’t been coming for the past five years.”

 Her grandfather chuckled, “Oh come on, Jannie. Calm down, it’s not that big of a deal. You can’t expect everyone to support your choices, that’s just Huggie’s opinions! It’s how-”

 “What? How he was raised? He was raised by  _ you _ , Pawpaw!” Her grandfather looked like he was completely shocked by what she said, she let out a huff, “I’m going to bed. Me and Cady are going into town tomorrow, leave the porch lights on. I still have my key, you can lock the doors if we’re not back before everyone’s asleep.”

 She didn’t wait for anyone to say anything, she just made her way to the bathroom to wash her face and then to her own room. Cady was laying on the bed, the light from her ipad acting as the only source of light in the room. She had changed, she was wearing the shirt Janis had accidentally put on earlier and her favorite pair of holiday pants with candy canes and snowmen scattered on them. Janis smiled to herself, she was probably watching more videos from her parents. Janis climbed onto the bed, Cady moved an arm for her to wrap it around Janis as she curled up against her friend. They laid in silence for a long while, Janis almost fell asleep twice before Cady turned off the tablet and set it down on the nightstand. They shifted around, getting comfortable a second time and under the blanket. Cady was facing the wall, her back to Janis, and Janis simply stared for a moment, unsure of what she should do. The bed was more than big enough for them to both sleep through the night without even bumping into the other. 

 Cady let out a soft groan, “Janis, are you okay?”

 “Huh?”

 “I can feel you sitting up, are you alright? Do you need a vom-bucket?”

 “No, I just...I was just thinking about where to take you first tomorrow when we go into town,” Janis swallowed thickly as she scooted closer to Cady, draping an arm over her waist and tucking her other arm under the pillow, “Probably Booth’s Diner, they have the best breakfasts.”

 Cady hummed happily, leaning into Janis more, “Sounds nice.”

 “Yeah...I’m sorry about Huggie. I-I knew he was bad but...honestly I didn’t expect that. Not so soon at least…”

 “It’s okay. He doesn’t scare me as long as I have you with me. Well, no, I was still scared but I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen. And I trust your dad and Uncle Craig too.”

 Janis shrugged off the feeling of butterflies. She didn’t respond and Cady didn’t say anything more. It took Cady no time at all to fall asleep, Janis wasn’t so lucky however. She stayed up a few more hours, listening to her dad argue with his dad and everyone say their goodbyes and good nights as Craig left. He was staying in a motel with his fiancee apparently. Eventually, she found sleep, lulled by the muted sounds of crickets outside and Cady’s own soft snoring.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters the longest chapter (so far) and it's a little slow at times, or at least I think so. But it's also my favorite chapter so far

 Janis woke up slowly, wanting to savor the time in the bed as long as possible. Except she felt like someone was watching her so there was no chance at her falling back asleep no matter how hard she tried. She opened one eye and was greeted with the blurry silhouette of Cady, she let out a squeak.

 “I wasn’t watching you sleep, I swear! Well, okay, I was, but not for like a really long or creepy time!” Cady sprung up into a seated position, “I only woke up like a few minutes ago really and like I rolled over and you looked so content and happy and you were really pretty and-”

 Janis interrupted her rambling with a laugh, “It’s fine, Caddy. Let’s just get dressed and go. Hopefully I won’t need to put air in my bike’s tires.”

 Cady perked up, “You have a bike here too?”

 She slid off the bed, digging through the top drawers for an outfit, “Not like a motorcycle bike. It’s just an old bicycle with pegs on the back wheels. You don’t mind riding pegs do you?”

 “Pegs?”

_ Oh.  _ Of course she didn’t know what pegs were.

 “They’re like...little cylinders on the wheels? They’re made for stunts in motocross and dirt biking and stuff but people use them to give friends rides and stuff. Like in grade school usually but it’s not like we  _ can’t _ do that just because we’re in our twenties.”

 Janis grabbed a pair of shorts she had painted on the back pockets of and a led zepplin shirt, Cady was still just sitting on the bed, watching her, “I’m gonna go change in the bathroom so I can do my makeup afterwards. Be sure the lock the door when I leave while you change, we don’t know who might try to just walk in unannounced.”

 Cady nodded. Once in the bathroom, Janis changed quickly and called Damian before starting on her makeup. He answered in two rings, she could hear the music from the sing-along christmas disney movie in the background.

 “What’s up, bitch?”

 She put him on speaker so she could do her makeup and talk, “Getting ready, I’m taking Caddy to Booth’s for breakfast and then we’re spending the day in town because last night Huggie came home and I nearly gave him a black eye.”

 “Oooh, yeah. Caddy texted me last night, is she alright?”

 “Yeah, she was reasonably shaken up when it happened though. Pawpaw kicked him out but he’s still invited to the christmas dinner and new years party.”

 “Well, of course. Where else are you going to get dinner and show in the modest town of Petersburg, Georgia?”

 “Ha ha, Dam. If the show is my family calling me and Caddy slurs and trying to start fights, I think I can go without. But anyways, how was your first day without us?” Cady walked into the bathroom, she was wearing a black and white flannel and some jeans, she had two jackets folded up in her arms.

 “Oh, it’s been amazing. I can walk around the house completely naked and no one will yell at me when I burn the cookies,” The sarcasm in Damian’s voice was painstakingly obvious, “Just kidding. It’s horrible. I miss you guys!”

 Both Janis and Cady laughed, “I’m sure you’ll survive until January.”

 “That’s what you think! You two are gonna come home and I’m going to be a pile of bones on the couch.”

 Cady handed Janis one of the jackets when she finished her makeup, it was her painted high school jacket again. She slipped on the other jacket herself, it was a white hoodie than Janis recognized as having an elephant on the back, it was from a charity her parents had a hand in.

 “I checked the weather, it’s probably going to be a little chilly so I figured we should at least bring some jackets,” Janis traded places with Cady as she tied the jacket around her waist.

 “Oh! Caddy, you packed  _ my _ shampoo  _ again _ !”

 “I’m sorry! It’s just the same color as mine, I can’t tell them apart sometimes!”

 “They are  _ not _ the same colors, mine is more of a fuschia, yours is like a magenta,” Janis rolled her eyes, “Well, me and Caddy are about to hit the road, we’ll talk to you later, Dam. Bye!”

 “Have fun on your-” Janis hung up before he could finish, she knows exactly what he was about to say, he was gonna call their trip a breakfast date.

 Cady sighed, “Aw, you didn’t let him finish.”

 “I’m sure it’s fine, Caddy. I’ll meet you in the garage after you finish, I’m gonna check the tires on the bike.”

 “Where’s the garage?”

 “It’s the door on the other end of the kitchen? Next to the fridge.”

 Cady gave her a thumbs up and Janis briskly walked across the house to the garage. The house was shockingly quiet, it took her a few minutes to find the old bike, it’s red paint beginning to chip off and the seat starting to peel. It was hidden behind  _ something _ under a giant paint-splattered sheet. She assumed it was probably someone’s gift, something her grandfather was building himself. She didn’t bother looking, instead focused on the bike. 

_  Both wheels are flat. _

 She dug around for a few minutes more, thankful when she found a motorized air pump. She really didn’t want to have to use a manual one, that would take literally hours. In the next 30 minutes, Janis and Cady were outside of the bright yellow diner. It wasn’t incredibly busy, it was 11am after all, but aside from a single young guy with tan skin and black hair, dressed in all black-  _ emo much? He’s wearing ripped skinny jeans, a black hoodie, and blue beanie _ \- who was seated at the counter, the diner was filled almost exclusively with older people that Janis was confident would recognize her if she had come in with any of her family. They took a seat at an empty booth, sitting across from each other.

 “The chocolate chip pancakes here are the tits. And they also have-”

 “Blueberry syrup that’s to die for because it’s got little chunks of the berries in it.” Janis was interrupted by another voice, it was familiar if not a little deeper at least.

 Cady was looking at the stranger like she expected them to attack, it was the emo guy from the counter. He dragged a chair over to the end of their booth, not caring about the disruption the scraping noise it made caused. He sat in in backwards and looked at Janis with a sly grin. A septum piercing, an eyebrow scar, steely grey eyes, a crooked nose, and a sad, patchy attempt at facial hair, Janis almost rolled her eyes. He looked like every tryhard, self-proclaimed bad boy ever. Too bad she knew exactly who he was and actually appreciated the impromptu run-in.

 “Howdy, JD,” Cady looked like someone had kicked a puppy, Janis wished she could get a picture of her face when Janis acknowledged she knew the stranger.

 “Greetings and salutations, Janis,” He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly, “And it’s Jason now actually.”

 She pulled his hat down over his eyes with a laugh, “Oh? Finally decided on a name?”

 “You can have a free pass to call me JD, I guess. For old times sake, of course. But yeah, as of July 16th, I am officially Jason Reilly Dean.”

 “No, c’mon, if you wanna be called Jason, I’m calling you Jason, dude,” Janis could see Cady starting to get nervous, she nudged her foot with her own under the table, “This is Cady by the way. My  _ girlfriend _ . Caddy this is Jason, he’s like the only good thing about Petersburg.”

 She doesn’t know why she introduced Cady as her girlfriend, she didn’t need to lie to Jason. Cady and Jason shake hands.

 “I’ve known Janis since before her dad called her “Pumpkin”.”

 Janis gave him a hard shove, “No, you didn’t, you ass. We didn’t even meet until second grade.”

 “Well, Cady didn’t know that. Also I’d hardly call myself the only  _ good _ thing here, especially since I don’t live around here anymore.”

 “Finally went to college or just found someone willing to put up with your crap and let you sleep on their couch?,” A waitress came and took their orders, Janis and Cady both got the chocolate chip pancakes and a coffee. Jason got a glass of chocolate milk and nothing else.

 “Little of both. Went to college for a bit, I was going to Portland State for criminal justice but then I realized that being a cop would kind of like if my dad starting building things instead of destroying them. Now I’m living with my girlfriend and I’m working as a mechanic while  _ she _ goes to Portland State for criminal justice and law.”

 “Productive, how long have you been dating this girlfriend of yours?”

 “Six years,” His face lit up as he fumbled to pull his phone out of his pocket, “We met our freshman year of high school when she moved down here from Ohio! She immediately joined the “popular” kids but we always had classes together.”

 It was nice seeing him so happy, Janis knew all too well how dark his life was growing up. He showed her a picture on his phone; it was him and six girls all dressed up and sitting in what she could only assume was an incredibly expensive restaurant. Jason pointed at a girl in a blue dress shirt sitting next to him, “ _ That’s _ Veronica. The others are her friends, well... _ our _ friends. The red, yellow, and green ones are “The Heathers,” as they were called in high school, and the other two are Betty and Martha.”

 “You’re telling me that you all became friends in high school and are still close as can be? Do you have  _ any _ new friends?” The girl in yellow looked incredibly familiar, she made a mental note to ask about her again later.

 “Well, Betty and Martha are Ronnie’s friends from Ohio,” He began swiping through his phone again, giving her a side-eye, “And are you telling me  _ you _ have made new friends after high school?”

 “Touche, Dean, touche.”

 The waitress came back with their food and the trio sat in silence while Janis and Cady ate. Until Jason got bored at least and tapping on his glass and phone games stopped entertaining him.

 “What are you two doing after this?”

 Cady met Janis eyes across the table, she didn’t know where they were going or what they were doing and Janis had a feeling she probably didn’t want Jason tagging along to whatever it would be. Except Janis didn’t really have any plans after this, just that they needed to stay out of the house for a few hours.

 “Uh...not really anything...we’re just trying to get out of the house,” Janis refused to meet Cady’s eyes again, “Huggie kind of blew up last night.”

 Jason made a grossed out noise, sticking his tongue out, he had a tongue piercing, “Huggie’s always bad news. And well, I happen to know that our spot by the river is still free game.”

 “Maybe later, Jason. I think I’m gonna show Caddy around some first.”

 He didn’t look convinced in the least bit, Janis was really starting to hate all of her friends giving her that look, “Okay, You know my number, hasn’t changed in the last decade unlike yours.”

 “Until we next meet,” He stood up and spun the chair around in one smooth movement, pulling his wallet out,  _ of course he had a wallet chain, _ and setting down a crisp 20 dollar bill on the table. 

 Once he was out the door, Cady leaned in to talk quietly, “Is he always like  _ that _ ?”

 Janis couldn’t stop herself from laughing, nodding as she shook, “Yes. Yeah, Jason has literally never  _ not _ been that. He’s a lot happier than he used to be though, he’s probably getting help now. I’m sure we can thank his girlfriend for that somehow.”

 Cady pushed around the last few bites of her pancakes with her fork, she looked like she was debating saying something, “You know that yellow girl in the picture he showed us was one of my exes. Heather, the cheerleader?”

_ Ah, that’s why she recognized her. _

 “We don’t have to hang out with him if you don’t want to,” The waitress came by to take the dishes and give them their check, “There’s just...nothing to do around here really.”

 “Oh no! It’s fine, don’t worry about it! It’s just like really weird that he knows her, yunno?”

 “Yeah, small world,” After paying, they left the diner, Janis opting they walk to the nearby park instead of trailing the bike behind them everywhere.

 There were a few families in the park, walking their dogs or having picnics. A few joggers and cyclists speeding past the two of them on the trails. They got a few weird looks, whether that was duh to Janis’ clothes and makeup or because they were holding hands was up for debate, but more than a few times did she catch a suburban mom giving them the evil eye or some older guys saying something under their breath. The longer she spent in the town, the more she hated it, and they still had two weeks before they could go home again.

 Janis decided to focus on something else before she made herself sick. Instead she pulled out her phone to text Jason. 

**petersburg cryptid:** yo, Jason! it’s me, Janis   
**petersburg cryptid:** dude our names match, we could be siblings

**tall dark & broody: ** Dont

**petersburg cryptid:** fun is dead and you killed it   
**petersburg cryptid:** anyways me and Caddy’ll be at the river in a few hours we’re walking in the park atm   
**petersburg cryptid:** probably gonna take her to the wildlife museum afterwards

**tall dark & broody: ** ok   
**tall dark & broody: ** Ill bring sum Snax

**petersburg cryptid:** please don’t tell me you still type like it’s 2008

**tall dark & broody: ** rawr XD so random!!!!11!!1!1   
**tall dark & broody: ** ok I changed my mind I Wish I didnt send tht   
**tall dark & broody: ** dont hold my Cursed Tragic Backstory against me

**petersburg cryptid:** I’ll make no such promises

 Jason didn’t respond. Knowing him, he was just preoccupied throwing rocks at something. Janis dragged Cady over to a soft patch of grass under a fairly large oak tree, pulling out her sketchbook as they sat down. Cady let out a sigh as she laid back in the grass, a serene smile playing out on her lips.

 “I know it’s only been two days and we hit some real big rocks already, this is nice,” She caught Cady staring up at her over the top of her sketchbook, “The diner was nice, Craig and Rose were nice, Jason...I don’t really know how I feel about him yet actually but I trust you. I’m really glad you brought me here…”

 Janis only hummed in response, too focused on her drawing. She was drawing Cady, laying in the grass, hair pooled around her, a smile so big her nose and eyes crinkled. Looking at Cady gave her a warm feeling in her chest and right now Janis wasn’t about to ruin one of the few good things to come of this trip by ignoring it or covering it up.

 “I’m glad you asked to come. Otherwise I’d be stuck with the human gargoyle as my only company.”

 Cady raised an eyebrow, “Human gargoyle?”

 “Jason. He’s got this gargoyle tattoo on his back and he, well, he  _ used _ to do this thing where he’d kind of just...squat instead of sit? And I’m sure he still probably sits almost exclusively on counters or tables or the arms of chairs and couches?” Cady probably didn’t really care that much, she just needed to explain who she was referring to, not the reasoning behind it.

 “I can see it.”

 The sat in silence for a few hours, Janis drawing and Cady taking a nap and making daisy chains that fell apart the second she tried to put any of them on. They made their way back to the diner to get the bike before departing and riding to the woods at the outskirts of the town. Janis hopped off the bike to guide it down the overgrown path into the trees. Cady sat backwards in the seat, feet resting on the back pegs, so she could face Janis while they made the trek to the river. Soon enough Janis heard the rushing of water and the sounds of someone shooting aluminum cans. They found themselves in a small clearing next to the river, Jason’s hoodie was discarded on a log alongside a plastic bag that she assumed was the snacks.

 He was shooting a line of empty cans across the river with a small black pistol. Janis silently relaxed when she saw the orange tip of the gun, it was just an airsoft gun.

 “Took y’all long enough, I’m almost out of cans,” He looked to them as Janis set the bike against a tree, he took a shot and knocked an orange can off the rock it was set up on.

 “No one said you had to wait here for three hours.”

 “Where else am I gonna wait? My dad’s junkyard?” He laughed.

 Cady took a seat on the log with Jason’s jacket, wasting no time to dig in the plastic bag for food, “What food did you bring?”

 “Turkey sandwiches mostly, no mayo,” He tossed the pistol to Janis, who barely caught it, and walked over to Cady, “Your girlfriend’s the hardest person in the world to make food for.”

 “Oh my god, I’m not that picky, dude.”

 “No ham, no peanut butter, no jam, no tomatoes, whole wheat bread only, no mustard...need I continue?”

 Janis rolled her eyes, she set the fake gun down next to her friends, “Don’t make me shoot you.”

 Cady struggled to laugh around a bite of her sandwich making Janis laugh as well, Jason just grinned, “You don’t have the guts, Sarkisian. But enough about that, I want to know more about Cady. She’s  _ clearly _ important enough to be brought to this lovely town for the holidays, and yet not once I have heard of you before today.”

 Janis fought off the urge to bite her nails, she didn’t like his tone. He was expecting something specific out of this and Janis didn’t know what.

“Well, actually I met Janis our junior year of high school. You see, my parents are zoologists and I was homeschooled and grew up in Kenya, but eventually we ran out of funding and had to come back to the states and I ended up going to Northshore and...it actually gets really confusing, but by the end I staged a coup d’etat and had my best friends, Janis and Damian, back,” Cady said it all in one breath.

 “A coup d’etat, huh?”

 Janis scoffed, “Barely, Caddy I love you but you literally became the new Regina George for a while there.”

 Jason made a face, sticking his tongue out again, “ _ Regina _ ? Really? Janis, I know you have questionable tastes, but wasn’t one Regina enough for you?”

 “She wasn’t like that at first!” She shoved him off the log, “And she came crawling back eventually.”

 “Oh, please, only because I couldn’t stand seeing you mope around like it was the end of the world,” Cady leaned her head on Janis’ shoulder.

 “Ew, cut it out, guys. You’re gonna tarnish my perfect dental record,” Jason feigned disgust, Janis rolled her eyes again, “Ignoring that blatant lie, let it be known that Caddy only joined the Plastics in the beginning to spy on them for me. It was all very dramatic.”

 “Oh, you think your high school life was dramatic? Get on my level, my girlfriend’s girlfriends-”

 “Hold up, wait a second,  _ girlfriends? _ As in  _ plural? _ ”

 Jason just waved her off, “Yeah, yeah, that’s not the point. They reported me to the  _ cops _ and I almost got locked up  _ twice _ .”

 “Jesus christ, Jason! What the hell?!”

 “I’ll admit, I made some jokes that were in poor taste, they thought I was plotting to kill them and blow up the school. But we cool now.” Janis could not believe how casual he was being about it, “You’re just “cool” now? Just like that?”

 “Well, Heather and Heather kind of went their own ways after graduation, they still keep in touch but they aren’t like still seeing Ronnie or Heather, and Heather, well, she-”

 Cady spoke up, cutting him off, “They all have the same names?”

 “Oh! Right, yeah, you kind of just get used to it after a while. So Mac and Duke went their own ways, and Chandler is still around and still completely loaded and like me and her are kind of a thing now, I guess, but we haven’t really talked about it yet so,” He shrugged and stood up, eyeing the river, “Anyone up for some skinny dipping?”

 Janis didn’t even need to look at Cady to know the face she was making, Janis stood up, “No, skinny dipping. It’s like 50 degrees anyways, dude, it’s too cold for that crap.”

 Jason was already pulling his shirt off over his head, “Never stopped us before!”

 She sighed but started shimmying out of her shorts anyways, “Okay, but I meant it when I said no skinny dipping! Underwear stays  _ on, _ Jason. And I’m only doing this to show you that I’m still the hot one.”

 “Keep dreaming,” He threw his shirt in her face and began to flex, he was still as painstakingly lanky as he was last time she saw him, though he did seem to finally be gaining some weight, “You were never the hot one.”

 Janis ignored him as she took her shirt off and handed her discarded clothes to Cady. Who was now  _ definitely _ blushing and averting her gaze to the forest floor, Janis smirked, an idea coming to mind.

 “Why don’t we ask Cady who’s hotter?”

 Jason was sitting on the ground, trying to yank his jeans off his legs, “Because she’s your girlfriend? Besides look at her, she’s red as a tomato! She’s probably thinking about you running her into the mattress.”

 Cady let out a squeak and Janis gasped, “JD!”

 He cackled as he finally pulled his legs free of the pants, “Chillax! I’m just joking!”

 A beat.

 “Everyone knows  _ you’re _ the bottom here,” Jason gave her no time to respond as he booked it to the river.

 “You’re going to eat those words, Jason Dean!” 

 She took off after it, catching up quickly and jumping on his back, making them both topple into the river. She could hear Cady laughing from the treeline, the noise distraction enough for Jason to get out from under her and splash her in the face. Thank god for small miracles, she was wearing waterproof eyeliner today.

 Cady never joined them in the water, but she lent her jacket to Janis to dry her hair with once they came back to dry land. Janis and Cady walked with JD to his truck, the sun beginning to set. Janis expected to see the same old beat-up white car his dad used to drive, instead they were greeted with the sight of a shiny and new blue pickup truck. The shock and awe wore off when she saw the clothes and boxes packed into the backseat.

 “Nice ride, where’d you steal it?”

 “Nowhere, Heather bought it. Technically it’s Veronica’s but she didn’t need it for the break, well, that and Heather  _ loves _ showing off her money and Petersburg is the prime location for that. Oh and do you guys need a ride?”

 “Yes!” Cady was quick to agree and Janis and Jason put the bike into the back of the truck.

 “So there’s no room in the back, so Cady’ll have to sit in your lap.”

_ There’s always a catch. _

 The ride wasn’t nearly as awkward as she expected. Jason and Cady talked amongst themselves, Cady sharing stories of her time in Africa and Jason talking about the trips Heather Chandler has taken him and his girlfriend on. Janis was content to just sit back and get some semblance of rest before they got back to the house. Jason tapped her on the shoulder, “Hey, Jan, hey.”

 “What?”

 “Your gramps still doing the bonfire for christmas eve?”

 “Probably, why?”

 He shrugged, “Dunno, if y’all’re gonna be there I’ll probably come.”

 “Okay? Dude, you always show up, why’re you being weird about this?”

 “I just…” Jason stopped for a moment, clearly thinking hard, “I want to talk to  _ you _ about something, and I can’t text it. Like it has to stay between you and me and...I’d rather do it in person.”

 Janis eyed him, “Okay, man. I’ll trust your weird ominous answer.”

 They pulled up to the house and Janis’ stomach dropped again. A familiar red car was sitting in the driveway.

 “Uh oh, looks like Leslie’s home.” Janis didn’t see the humor in Jason’s tone.

 Putting the bike up in the garage, they could hear the laughter and loud talking coming from in the house. Looks like Janis’ original plan to sneak past them all wasn’t going to work. She paused, her hand on the door into the house, Cady holding her other hand in a tight grip. She was  _ really _ starting to regret bringing her. Dealing with it herself was bad enough, now she’s dragged her friend into it. She turned around to face Cady who was looking up at her with concern.

 “Stay here.”

 “What?”

 Janis pulled her hand from Cady’s hand, “Trust me. Just...wait here for a moment, okay?”

 The redhead obviously was reluctant, but she nodded and let Janis go. Janis quietly opened the door and entered the kitchen, closing the door behind her. It was empty, everyone was in the living room then. She was halfway across the room when someone came around the corner, a young girl with long black hair. She couldn’t be more than 13 or 14.

 “Vivian? Are you alright?”

_ Oh, of course, it’s Vivian. _

__ The little girl ran up to her, hugging Janis tight around the waist, “I thought you weren’t gonna come back again.”

 Janis was afraid to do anything, she didn’t want to incur her aunt’s wrath. She settled for awkwardly patting Viv on the head. Another call out to Vivian that was left ignored and Janis could hear the clicking steps as her aunt Leslie made her way into the kitchen. There was an abrupt stop in the clicking, Janis looked up to see her aunt glaring at her, arms crossed over the frilly red shirt she was wearing. She used to think her aunt was so harsh because she pulled the ponytail she wore, without fail, everyday too tight.

 “Vivian, what did I tell you about hugging people without asking first?” A lie, of course.

 “Nothing.” Vivian had clearly caught on at some point since Janis was last here.

 “ _ Vivian. _ Go get your things, we were leaving anyways.”

 The little girl trudged away, back out of the kitchen, her mother stepped up to Janis, making enough obviously angry eye contact that even Janis was uncomfortable. There was a loud thud at the garage door before either of them got a word in. They both turned around in time for Cady to open the door and Rose come bumbling in, leaping and jumping on Janis excitedly.

_ Saved by the dog. _

 Leslie made a small noise of disgust, Rose was tracking dirt in and slobbering all over her clothes. Cady didn’t look even a little bit sorry.

 “Hello! I’m Cady,” Cady closed the distance between herself and Janis’ aunt, reaching her hand out, “Janis’ girlfriend. You must be Leslie, I’ve heard  _ so much  _ about you.”

 Janis almost let out a chuckle, Leslie was  _ not _ okay with the turn of events here. She didn’t even respond before turning around and walking to the front door, “Brandon, tell dad me and Vivian had to leave early to pick up Phil from the airport. And don’t forget, Tanner’s going to be arriving tomorrow.”

 Vivian ran up to her mom at the door, dragging a bag behind her. They must’ve been planning on staying here beforehand. The two of them left without another word. Rose, bored of Janis and Cady for not paying him enough attention, ran into the living room to beg her dad for dinner scraps. Janis faced Cady, she couldn’t hide her smile, “That was so fucking badass.”

 “I barely did anything, all I did was let Rose in and say hi,” Cady was getting bashful.

 “Are you kidding? She didn’t even say anything, she just left!” Janis grabbed Cady’s hands and started dancing around the kitchen, “Ding dong! The witch is dead!”

 Cady burst into laughter, they were interrupted by Janis’ dad walking in, “Hey! I understand y’all’s excitement, but maybe keep it down some?”

 “Sorry, dad.” Janis smiled sheepishly and her dad walked back out.

 She looked back down at Cady in front of her, beaming up at her. Cady grabbed her face and pulled Janis down into a kiss, parting before Janis even considered kissing back. No one was even in the room with them anymore, why the  _ hell _ did Cady just kiss her?

 “Why’d you do that?” Janis gave a lopsided grin, she hoped that’d be enough for Cady to understand she wasn’t at least mad.

 She looked confused, “What do you mean ”why did I do that”? You’re my girlfriend!”

 “But no one else is in here? You don’t need to like pretend to be into me or anything?”

 Cady’s face fell and she dropped Janis’ hands, “Why would I  _ pretend _ to?”

_  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. _

 “Because I thought we weren’t actually dating. I thought we were just pretending to be dating to teach my family a lesson,” Janis’ own voice was raising, even just a little.

 “Oh my god. I’m so fucking stupid,” Cady took a few steps back, “You were using me!”

 She was raising her voice and tears were welling up in her eyes and Janis was really starting to regret even saying anything. She could have just let it slide, never questioned it. Except that wouldn’t have stopped this from happening, it would have just pushed it back, made it worse.

 “Caddy, wait,” Janis tried grabbing Cady’s hand only for her to recoil her arm back before Janis even touched it.

 “No, it’s fine. It’s fine, whatever. It’s not like I can leave or anything,” She sounded more annoyed than hurt now, “Whatever, we’ll just keep pretending and then I don’t know we can figure it out when we fucking get home.”

 The way she said “pretending” stung.

 Cady let out a scoff, “I can’t believe I was so stupid, okay, whatever, I’m going shower.”

 She stormed out and left Janis to her own devices in the kitchen. Her dad came in, slow and quietly.

 “You okay, Pumpkin?”

 “I really screwed that over…” She turned around and hugged her dad, he combed a hand through her hair, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, yeah, you fucked up. But give it some time for the dust to settle, apologize, I think you two will be fine.”

 When Cady got out of the shower, Janis went in and took a lot longer than she wanted. She ended up just watching the water go down the drain for a while. By the time she got out, Cady was sitting on the bed watching more nature videos.

 “Your dad said we have to share the bed again tonight. He can’t get the air mattress out of the attic until tomorrow when your grandparents are awake.”

 Janis nodded, “Right. The bed’s big enough anyways…”

 They sat in silence, Cady watching the videos on her ipad by herself and Janis sketching. At one point her phone started blowing up, she didn’t check it before she chucked it into her bag across the room. It was probably just Damian chewing her out for lying to Cady. Eventually Cady went to sleep, her back to Janis again. She tried to follow suit but her insomnia kept her up again. Next Janis knew it, she found herself in the kitchen at 1am, digging through the fridge for  _ something _ to drink or eat or  _ something _ .

 She spotted a familiar silver can with a blue and red logo on it. Beer. Pabst beer. Bad idea but when has she had a single  _ good _ idea on this entire trip. She broke it open and drank it on her way back to her room. It was disgusting and part of her knew Cady would still be worried that she was drinking again despite being upset with her. She couldn’t really be bothered to care though, it’s not like she was going to drink more than the one. She finished it off and dropped the can into the trash. She hesitated for a long moment, temptation to go back and grab another, she shook it off and walked back to her room, climbing back into the bed. Sleep was still unobtainable, this was going to be a really long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops
> 
> also I would?? die for Janis/JD childhood friends content, I LIVE for that shit y'all


	6. Chapter 6

 When Janis woke up, the first thing she felt was a weight on top of her. He first assumption was Cady, but that was shot down almost immediately upon remembering last night’s debacle. There’s no way Cady  _ wasn’t _ still mad at her. The other sign it wasn’t Cady was the soft thumping.

_ Rose. _

 “Good morning, Rose,” She did  _ not _ want to open her eyes, so she didn’t and just fumbled blindly in front of her until her hands met his soft fur, “I hope you got a bath before coming in here.”

 She opened her eyes and looked around, aside from the irish setter in her lap, she was completely alone in the bedroom. She wondered where Cady could be, until she heard the other girl laugh from down the hall. She ushered Rose off her lap, he wandered over to the door and sat down, waiting for her. When she got up she took a moment to stretch and check the time, 1pm, before grabbing her phone from her bag. Twelve messages and four missed calls, all from Damian.

**disaster gay:** HOW ****  
**disaster gay:** DARE   
**disaster gay:** YOU   
**disaster gay:** I THOGUHT U SAID ITWAS CADDYS IDEA??? ****  
**disaster gay:** JANIS WHATT HE FUCK **  
** **disaster gay:** I CANT BELIEVE UVE DONE THIS

**disaster gay:** ok i kno ur ignoring me bitch **  
** **disaster gay:** fuccing pick up u mess im not going to yell at you im sorry if ur worried i will

**disaster gay:** ok fine u dont HAVE to talk abt it rn   
**disaster gay:** but i still want u to call or txt when u can   
**disaster gay:** i kno how u are & i kno ur going to try to bottle it all up & im not going to let u hurt urself like that sweetheart   
**disaster gay:** lov u bitch

 Janis smiled, she would never not love Damian, he was such a good friend. To her and Cady. She would talk to him about it...eventually, just not right now, maybe later? Right now she just wanted to ignore it as much as she could.

 She stuffed the phone into her pocket and walked out the room with Rose tailing behind her into the hall. Janis noticed the hall door was shut, probably since she was still asleep. As she got closer to the door, the voices got louder, she recognized two new voices alongside Cady and Craig’s, Phil and Tanner, there was also a third new voice that she didn’t recognize. She waited behind the door, listening.

 “So like...what are you?” The sentence tied Janis’ stomach in knots, leave it up to Phillip to ask something like that, “Like are you a lesbo like Janis or-”

 “You can just say lesbian, and no. I’ve dated guys too, I’m bi.”

 She heard someone high five, she assumed it was Phil and Tanner. Tanner spoke up, “So like does that mean you’d be down for like a threesome.”

 “Tanner!”

 “What? It’s just a question!”

 Janis definitely vomited in her mouth a little. Craig and Tanner bickered for a moment more until Cady interrupted them, “First of all, I’m literally in a relationship so like  _ absolutely not _ . Second of all, ew. And third of all,  _ ew. _ ”

 She had her handle on the doorknob, about to walk in and stop her cousins from making the conversation even worse, except she hesitated when Tanner spoke up again.

 He scoffed, “Whatever, you’re dating  _ Janis. _ You’re in no place to call me gross, like what do you even see in her? There’s so many like hot lesbians and you picked  _ her. _ ”

 A loud smack rang out and then silence. 

 “What is wrong with you?” Cady’s voice had a calm anger in it, she must’ve slapped him, “Janis is an amazing and beautiful and talented woman and it literally shouldn’t matter if  _ you _ think she’s hot or not because she’s your cousin first of all so like,  _ ew again _ , and -”

 Janis entered the living room, all eyes fell on her and Rose quickly maneuvered through her legs to run up to Phil and Tanner. 

 “Oh! Janis! Uh-”

 “Tanner, if you so much as ever  _ imply _ you want to say crap like that again, to  _ anyone _ , I will personally come to your college dorm and castrate you,” She didn’t break eye contact once.

 “Okay…” Tanner’s voice was quiet, “I’m gonna go help pawpaw in the garage…”

 He got up and hurried out of the house. Janis took this time to look around the room. Cady was standing in front of the couch, where Phil was seated and Tanner had been sitting. Across the room she spotted her Uncle Craig and an unfamiliar man sitting at the fireplace. He looked like he was dressed more for a “casual friday” at a corporate office rather than the last sunday before christmas. Craig noticed her staring at them and smiled, “Janis, this is Nate. He’s my...best man.”

 There was a hesitance in his voice that Janis couldn’t quite place, “Hey.”

 “Hey,” He gave a small wave after fixing his glasses, he used the palms of his hands on the sides and Janis had to stop herself from laughing at the sight, “We brought some christmas movies.”

 “I figured we could have a movie marathon before everything  _ really _ goes to shit on Wednesday,” Craig was excitedly patting his lap as he spoke.

 “What about my dad?”

 “He’s with Leslie and Viv for the day, they needed someone to do the heavy lifting of their shopping trips,” Janis moved to sit on the couch and Cady sat back down beside her, Janis pretended not to notice the obvious space left between them.

 “What, couldn’t Jared help them with that crap? Why’d dad have to go?”

 Craig let out a dry, sarcastic laugh, “Because they divorced. Again. He was “too focused” on his job and not paying enough attention to her or whatever. I give it like another month maybe.”

 Of course, it was only the third time she’d been divorced, “Where does she get the money for all these weddings and divorces?”

 “She doesn’t, the men she marries have it,” Craig had began fiddling with the dated VCR next to the TV, putting one of the many movies from the stack in, “But enough of that, let’s watch motherfuckin Frosty the Snowman.”

 They watched a few movies, Cady and Craig did most of the talking about made most of the jokes. Nate seemed content just to watch in silence and sit next to her uncle, although Janis won’t lie, she  _ definitely _ caught him staring at her uncle with a soft look in his eyes more than once. She wondered if Craig knew his best man was probably into him. Halfway through the second movie, her grandmother came in, taking a seat in the rocking chair and promptly not acknowledging anyone in the room. But through most of the movies, she couldn’t find it in herself to focus. All she could think about is how Cady was sitting so far away from her and never looking at her. It was like when she first dethroned Regina in high school, she acted like she was only friends with her out of some sort of community service or something. Eventually her dad and Leslie came back except Leslie didn’t so much as get out of her car, her dad told Phil that he had to leave with his mom and that was the most interaction they had. 

 “Heyo, do you still want me to get the airbed out of the attic, Cady?”

_ Oh, right.  _ Cady asked him to get the air mattress so she didn’t have to share with Janis anymore.

 Cady perked up, “Yes, please! I love Janis but sometimes sharing a bed with her is so hard.” 

 She laughed and Janis had to admit it was pretty believable but she knew better, it was fake. Her dad walked to the hallway, Cady following him. She could hear the ladder creaking as her dad climbed it. Craig shot her a worried look from across the room, she shrugged it off. To avoid his inevitable questioning, she pulled her phone out, might as well talk to Damian. It was getting late anyways.

**maleficent’s wife:** hey

**disaster gay:** the beast finally awaketh

**maleficent’s wife:** actually I woke up at 1

**disaster gay:** oh   
**disaster gay:** r u ok?

**maleficent’s wife:** she’s been ignoring me since I woke up

**disaster gay:** do u blame her?

**maleficent’s wife:** no,,,   
**maleficent’s wife:** but that doesn’t make me feel any better!!!

**disaster gay:** [ [dannyegg.jpg] ](https://grizzlybomb.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/egg-copy.jpg)

**maleficent’s wife:** ha ha you’re soooooo funny

**disaster gay:** thx bb i try <3   
**disaster gay:** but also what the HELL were u thinking?????? what made u think for a second tht leading caddy on would be ok!!!!!!!!

**maleficent’s wife:** I didn’t mean to, Dam!!!!!   
**maleficent’s wife:** I stg it was an accident!!!   
**maleficent’s wife:** you Know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt her like this :(   
**maleficent’s wife:** when we were packing for the trip I said smth about like wishing i had like a girlfriend to bring on the trip just to start shit with my family honestly and she offered to go with and I kind of just assumed like we were gonna fake it

**disaster gay:** FGHDJGFJHSD ****  
**disaster gay:** JANIS   
**disaster gay:** SHE LITERALLY OFFERED TO BE UR GF    
**disaster gay:** U ASKED FOR A GF AND SHE VOLUNTEERED   
**disaster gay:** WHAT IS WRONG WITH U   
**disaster gay:** GOD U R SO DUMB SOMETIMES

 Thinking about it now, Janis had to agree. She still thinks the entire conversation she had with Cady was a very roundabout and vague way of asking her out, but everything afterwards probably should have been obvious. Hell, she had even acknowledged that it would have made more sense if they were dating at one point and then  _ ignored _ it. But regardless, Janis didn’t like Cady like that, she was flattered but just didn’t share the same feelings. Nope, that train left the station a long time ago.

... _ Probably at least _ ...

 Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t be completely opposed to the idea of dating Cady, but that’s for later. Now she needed to fix their friendship from crashing and burning,  _ then _ she can deal with any fuzzy feelings about her friend. Damian didn’t need to know that part.

**disaster gay:** hun u still alive over there?

**maleficent’s wife:** yeah, just trying to think of how I’m going to fix this

**disaster gay:** u just gotta wait it out rn   
**disaster gay:** caddy will come to u when shes ready

**maleficent’s wife:** I know I just miss her

**disaster gay:** wow gay

**maleficent’s wife:** shut the hell your mouth

 Eventually her dad came back in as well as her grandfather and Tanner. When Tanner walked in, Janis stood up and promptly left the room. Making a beeline to the hallway and into her room. Cady was sitting on the airbed, her laptop open and earbuds in. She barely acknowledged Janis’ entry. They sat in silence for a while, Cady clacking away on her laptop and Janis just texting Damian and exchanging memes with him. It helped her feel normal, they hadn’t talked a lot since she left. She was stunned when it was Cady who ended the silence, loudly closing her laptop and twisting around to face Janis on the bed.

 “Are you drinking again?”

_ Well, that’s a little blunt. _

 “No? Why’re you asking?”

 She didn’t seem like she believed her, “Because I know you got up in the middle of the night last night. And I noticed one of those beer cans in the fridge went missing.”

 Oh.

 “It was just the one, it’s fine.”

 “Jan…” Cady looked worried, Janis hated it.

 She snapped, “I said it’s fine.”

 Cady didn’t say anything and Janis didn’t look to see her reaction. They didn’t talk again for the rest of the night, both going to bed on their own time without so much as a “goodnight.” Monday came and went, Janis thought it felt much the same as Sunday had. Weird, tense, awkward, uncomfortable, Cady ignored her mostly and Janis drank a few more beers. That earned her a nervous look from Cady more than once when she walked in on her crushing one of the empty cans. Then it was Tuesday, the last day before christmas eve and the bonfire. Cady had told her good morning, but that’s about the most she did. Her grandmother had asked her to help in the garden, pruning and weeding mostly apparently.

 She really had no clue what she was doing, she was given some pruning shears and let loose into the garden except her grandmother had to keep coming over and correcting her or doing it for her or watching over her shoulder. Not much had changed since she was a little kid and she would get tricked into weeding the vegetable garden to wear herself out.

 “So I noticed you and your...friend are having a bit of a hard time?”

 Janis was never going to ignorantly believe her grandmother actually wanted  _ her _ help gardening again, “She’s just stressed out and overwhelmed, Mawmaw.”

 It wasn’t a complete lie, Cady always struggled with crowds and new people, university really did a number on her after graduation, “Caddy has a hard time around so many strangers. She’s trying not to burn out before the bonfire.”

 “I may be old, Janis, but I’m not stupid. I don’t think she’s having a problem with everyone else, so much as she is with you.”

 She threw the shears on the floor and sat in the dirt, it’s not like she was getting anywhere anyways, “Is there a point to this or…?”

 “I just think that maybe you wouldn’t be having this problem if you dated a man. I know you’ve never really seen much in any boys your age but...maybe you just haven’t found the right one.”

 “Well, not to disappoint you, but I’m never going to find “the right one.” He doesn’t  _ exist, _ ” Janis let out a sigh, “And I’m plenty happy with Cady right now. I just fucked up the other day.”

 She couldn’t decipher any emotions in her grandmother’s face, “If you’re not going to listen to me or even help out here, then get out of here. I don’t have anything more to say.”

 Afterwards was uneventful until christmas eve the next day. Janis was surprised to see Cady wasn’t ignoring her at all that day. It was almost like Saturday night never happened, aside from the underlying tension that came with having not yet talked it out at least. Most of the day was spent helping prepare for the bonfire. Craig had woken them up to go to the store to buy supplies for s’mores. Janis pretended that Cady held her hand because she wanted to, not because they had an image to upkeep. When they got back, they were forced to assist in build the bonfire, which used to be Janis’ favorite part. 

 Now, she kind of hated it. The rough bark on some of the limbs and logs they grabbed hurt her hands, leaving a variety of small cuts and scrapes. It was easier when they just let her gather twigs for kindling instead of help carry the important pieces.

 Janis and Tanner were carrying a hefty log out of the trees towards the backyard. Thankfully this would likely be the last one they needed, meaning she wouldn’t have to spend any more time with Tanner once they got this one into the bonfire. Disappointingly, Tanner cleared his throat, obviously wanting to say something, “So...about the other day…”

 “Tanner, I swear to god I will-”

 Tanner dropped his side of the log, nearly pulling Janis and her end down as well, “No, no, no! I just wanted to say I’m sorry!”

 There was a beat of silence.

 “Like okay I don’t  _ really _ understand what I did, but obviously it wasn’t okay and like I know how my mom is about everything with you and I just wanted to make sure you didn’t think I agreed with that,” Tanner picked back up the log, “I mean, I don’t think this is like “right” or whatever but it at least  _ looks _ like this Caddy girl is making you happy and honestly I thought you forgot what being happy was after middle school.” 

 “Only me and Damian can call her Caddy,” She didn’t say anything else as they resumed their trek until they finally were out of the trees. She could see Cady helping her dad and Phil set up the bonfire in the middle of the clearing.

 “And she does make me happy, but don’t think this makes up for what you said to her Sunday.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **tw: q slur is used once and UH there's some (minor) violence**

 Janis’ grandmother insisted that everyone who built the bonfire needed to go take a full shower before dinner, not just wash their hands,  _ everything _ . It was stupid because within the hour they were all going to be outside again for the bonfire. She was about to get out of the shower when she heard the door click and someone walk in. She forgot to lock it, great.

 “Hey, ocupado, I’ll be out in a minute.”

 “I-I know,” It was Cady, “It’s just that your uncle, Huggie, he arrived and I just...didn’t want to be out there around him without you.”

 Janis peeked around the shower curtain, Cady was sitting on the extra counter space, awkwardly twiddling her thumbs, “Okay, well, like I said I’m about to get out. You might want to cover your eyes if you don’t want to see my ugly ass.”

 Cady’s hands flew up to cover her eyes as she blushed, “I mean your ass isn’t ugly like at all but okay.”

 “You’re being rather cheeky for someone who spent the last two days ignoring me,” She could see the smirk on Cady’s face as she stepped out of the shower, the smirk fell quick, “I know. I just needed to gather my thoughts and just...think for a while.”

 Janis quickly got dressed in silence, she pulled Cady’s hand down herself when she was through. Their eyes met and they both just stayed there for a moment, Cady caved first, pulling Janis into a tight hug that Janis stumbled into.

 “I missed you…I missed my best friend.”

 Janis relaxed in her arms and hugged her back, “I missed you too, Caddy.”

 Cady held Janis at arms length, “I’m still mad at you though, but I think we can,  _ and should, _ talk like later or whenever we can. Just not now, I need to shower and then we have dinner and then the bonfire and-”

 “Caddy, it’s fine. You take your shower, I’ll just wait outside the room,” She pulled out her phone from her pocket, “Jason’s on his way, so I should probably keep an eye out if Huggie’s here already.”

 “Right. Thank you.”

 Janis took post in the hall doorway, keeping an eye both on the front door and the bathroom door. She smiled to herself, she could hear Cady humming in the shower, probably too nervous to sing. Her attention was turned to the front door opening finally, in walked her friend in all his edgy glory. He was wearing a black hoodie that said “This is as jolly as I’ll get” with an imitation of the typical ugly christmas sweater patterns on the front.

 “Greetings and salutations, Sarkisians!” He was spinning his keys around on his finger, “Next time, maybe lock your door, I could have been krampus or something.”

 He saw Janis and started to walk towards her when a large hand came down on his shoulder, twisting him around face to face with Huggie.

 “And who exactly are you, kid?”

 “It’s JD, Huggie. Don’t you recognize the bad boy wannabe?” Janis remarked, Jason scoffed, “I’m not a “bad boy wannabe” whatever  _ that _ means, Janis.”

 Huggie looked Jason up and down, releasing the smaller man’s shoulder and scoffed, “Of course.”

 The taller guy rolled his eyes and walked away, not without giving Jason a hard shove, knocking him back into the couch. As he slammed the front door shut, Jason looked over at Janis, “Is the stick up his ass getting looser or is it just so far up there it hurts  _ him _ to talk?”

 “I’m pretty sure if the stick got loose, he’d collapse from the lack of structural support,” They met halfway into the living room, Jason lifting her up into a hug as he laughed at her surprise, “Hey!”

 Her grandmother came around the corner from the kitchen, a wooden spoon in her hand and her eyebrows knitted, “Who is here and what is the racket in here?”

 Jason dropped her, she landed hard with a loud thump, Jason flinched and apologized quickly before turning to face Linda behind them. They both looked equally as shocked and uncomfortable.

 “Mawmaw, you remember JD, yeah?”

 “Oh my god...Juliet?” Jason flinched at the sound of his deadname, Janis’ grandmother making her way to the two of them as Janis stood up, “You...you look different?”

 “It’s Jason now.”

 The old lady hummed in response, studying Jason. She was taller than him and Janis could feel him pulling into himself, his arms crossing across his chest and his shoulders hunching. She placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him some. It didn’t work when her grandmother reached out and placed a hand on his cheek, “I suppose I should’ve seen this coming. JD was hardly a girl’s name. I better make sure we made enough dinner for you, hun.”

 And with a light smile she left, whisking back into the kitchen to finish cooking. A knot formed in Janis’ stomach, maybe it was just a front but it certainly seemed like her grandmother accepted Jason with ease. Comparatively to herself and Cady at least. Part of her hoped it was a front. She mentally chastised herself for that, Jason didn’t deserve that. He got enough shit from his dad, but it was  _ her _ grandmother. Maybe Jason was always pretty much family but that shouldn’t have made him more deserving of respect or love like that. 

 Jason pulled her out of her thoughts when he turned around, he was still tense but he was smiling at least, “That went...well?”

 “Yeah..”

 Dinner came and went. Cady sat between Janis and her dad, Jason between her and Nate, all three of them just made faces at each other during the prayer trying to force someone to laugh. Towards the end they heard Nate giggle at them, Craig giving him a soft shove once everyone was looking up. While the meal passed without interruption, Janis couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. Something was definitely going to go wrong, she didn’t know what,  _ but something. _ Huggie and Leslie were glaring down both her and Jason, occasionally shooting a glance to Cady as well. She also earned a funny look from her dad and Cady at the start, but for a much different reason. She’d grabbed another beer before dinner, the looks they gave made her too nervous to ever actually take a sip throughout dinner, instead the shimmery condensation just mocked her for relapsing. 

 After what felt like forever, the hour passed and everyone rushed outside for the bonfire. Once Janis and Cady got to it, it was already lit up. A massive tower of orange and yellow flames. Jason was standing in front of it, arms in the air triumphantly with what Janis could only assume was a lighter and some lighter fluid in his hands. He must’ve been the one to set it off.

 The bonfire was a lot more fun when she was younger. Specifically when she had more to do than stare at the flames and drink.

 Cady, Jason, Nate, and Craig had decided almost immediately to play a game of chicken, her dad acting as the “referee” to prevent anyone from getting seriously injured with a lack of water around. Jason and Cady won when her uncle definitely cheated and tickled Cady, which made her kick out and instead knocking Nate in the face. Off went his glasses and Craig. 

 Janis knows something is up between those two when her uncle freaks and spends the rest of the bonfire so far fretting over his  _ “friend.”  _ They sat across from Janis, partially obscured by the fire between them. She’s at least 90% sure she sees Nate press a small kiss to her uncle’s nose when no one’s looking. She knows that she’s going to ask her uncle about it next time she sees him after tonight. When she’s not half drunk and out of it at least.

 She sees her dad and Jason catching up as they roast marshmallows when she gets up to grab  _ another _ beer. Her seventh one tonight. They try to wave her over but she just smiles and waves and wanders back to her seat on a nearby stump. Janis makes it halfway through the drink before Cady’s in front of her. She’s looking down at her with a look in her eyes that Janis recognizes as disappointment.

 “C’mon, we still need to talk,” Cady holds her hand as she stands up, she also grabs the silver can from her hand and places it back on the stump before leading her away.

 They weren’t incredibly far but the bonfire looked like an orange speck from their place in the field. Cady laid out in the grass, staring up at the stars, she patted the dirt beside her and Janis doesn’t want to think about how long it took her to process what was being asked of her.

 “There’s so many more stars out here than Chicago..,” Cady’s tone was drowning in awe, it made Janis feel warm everywhere and she’s confident it isn’t the alcohol.

 The grass was so soft and cool that part of Janis could really just fall asleep laying here probably. She watched Cady next to her pointing out stars and constellations and telling her about them for what is definitely  _ at least _ the hundredth time. Janis smiled, if she had any doubts before they’re gone now, she’s completely, utterly in love with Cady Heron. Even in the lowlight of the moon and the distant light of the bonfire, Janis swears she could count all the freckles on Cady’s cheeks from where she was laying. When Cady got too caught up and talked to fast she would stutter, and Janis watched as everytime without fail Cady’s smile would grow ten times when she’d catch herself tripping over her words.

 She idly wondered if Cady would taste like peppermint and vanilla again if she kissed her.

 “So...about the whole...fake dating thing,” Well that pulled Janis out of her daze pretty quick, “Uh...yeah, where do you want to start…?”

 Janis was vaguely aware of the rise in volume from the bonfire. Cady’s attention was pulled to it briefly, “Well, like, when we talked about it first. That Wednesday before we left obviously-”

 Her attention was again drawn to the bonfire and Janis was much more aware of the yelling raising. She rolled over to get a look at the bonfire, Huggie was one of the voices yelling. 

_ Of course. _

 The other was Jason... _ of course. _

 She could hear Leslie and her dad and her grandfather chipping in at times as well. She could barely make out the silhouettes of her eldest uncle and friend standing in front of the fire. They were squaring off, getting in each other’s faces and yelling. Janis was grateful she couldn’t tell  _ what _ they were saying. Next thing she knows, she’s watching Huggie grab and lift Jason up by his collar and Jason somehow managing to slam his head into Huggie’s with enough force that the older man dropped him.

 Janis stumbled to stand, Cady helping pull her up in the rush before they both ran back to the bonfire. The shouts were clearer now that they were close, she could see blood trickling in excess from her uncle’s nose. Her dad was trying to help a dazed Jason up while her grandparents were on Huggie in seconds in a weak-willed attempt to stop him so he doesn’t get hurt worse.

 “You little bitch!” Huggie pushed past his parents and tackled Jason back to the ground, roughly shoving his brother out of the way, “You think you’re fuckin’ tough, huh?”

Janis was frozen in place, only sort of aware of Cady pressed close behind her. She wanted to do something, help her friend, but she couldn’t will herself to move. What if she moved to help Jason and her uncle turned to Cady, unprotected and distant from the rest of the people here? Cady was clinging tight to her jacket, nails digging into Janis’ shoulders. 

 Jason was holding Huggie off barely, arms up in front of his face to block the hits. Out of the corners of her eyes she could see Phillip and Tanner both standing in front of their mom, their sister in her arms; and Craig standing defensively, shoulders tense, in front of Nate who was on the phone. Her grandparents were still shouting at Huggie to calm down or get away or just  _ stop. _ Janis swears her grandmother is on the verge of tears when Huggie grabs one of Jason’s arms to stop him from blocking.

 He only gets a few punches in before her dad is on him, arms wrapped under Huggie’s and pulling him up and off Jason. Her uncle flails around wildly, trying to grab Brandon and keep punching Jason. 

 “You fucking queer! You’re gonna burn in hell and I’m gonna send you there! You stay away from my family!” She saw panic set into her uncle’s eyes, replacing the fiery rage, as her dad adjusted his hold on the bigger man. He was choking him out, Huggie began trying to pull his brother off of him with a greater fervor, “Hey- Brandon- B- Hey!”

 No longer frozen in place, Janis rushed to Jason’s side. He wasn’t really moving a lot but he let out a groan when she turned his face to her. It could be much worse, but he was still bloodied and bruised. 

 “Jason...Jase, hey. Can you hear me?”

 He grunted in what she hoped was an affirmative. She felt Cady settle next to her, a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She saw his arm that Huggie had grabbed, it looked like it might be broken at the wrist. Or maybe just twisted?  _ It didn’t look okay. _

 “C-Can you move your arm? Your left one?”

 He gave an effort to lift his arm, his hand was limp and he flinched when it moved as he lifted his arm up. He let it drop and Janis winced herself when it hit the hard dirt.

 “Nate called the police…” Craig spoke up, his voice was steely and he was standing straight and stiff as he stared down his parents when they shot a glare at him, “I can drive Jason to the ER. Riverbend isn’t too far and Nate’s car can fit you and him in the back…”

 Janis couldn’t help the tears sliding down her cheeks, “Y-Yeah...thank you…”

 The next 30 minutes passed in a blur. Janis rode in the back of the car with Jason’s head in her lap, Cady was in the passenger seat nearly perpetually turned around to look at Janis and Jason and make sure they were okay. Or as okay as they could be. She hadn’t felt safe enough to stay at the house and Janis can’t blame her, even with her dad there  _ she _ wouldn’t feel safe to.

 She paced and paced and paced in the waiting room until some middle-aged woman asked her to stop. Taking a seat next to Cady, she opted for shaking her leg and tapping her foot. She couldn’t sit still, she was in the fucking emergency room on christmas eve, well christmas day now it’s 1am, waiting for one of her best friends to get an all clear or something because her uncle clobbered him into the dirt. Thinking about it made her sick and angry and anxious and angry and sick and-

 Cady grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers and tracing her thumb on the back of her hand. Janis didn’t even realize how hard she’d been clenching her fists, Cady rested her head on her shoulder and it forced Janis to relax some. She rested her own head on Cady’s and shut her eyes, she could feel her energy crashing already. Maybe some sleep will do her some good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **:)**


	8. Chapter 8

 Janis is being softly shaken awake- no, actually Cady’s just trying to get up without waking her, nevermind. She lets out a soft hum of disapproval as Cady gets up, shooting an arm out to grab her friend’s wrist before she gets too far away.

 “Oh! Sorry, Jan. I didn’t mean to wake you up…”

 “ ‘s fine,” She was still groggy, she had a killer headache and the fluorescent lights were not helping. She clapped a hand over her eyes, “Do you have an ibuprofen or somethin’?”

 “No, sorry.”

 “Ugh, okay. Where are we?”

 “Riverbend ER...we can go see Jason now, if you want?”

 Memories of last night flooded her brain. Christmas dinner, the bonfire, the stars, Huggie and Jason... _ Jason. _ Janis rushed to stand up, stumbling immediately lightheaded. Cady caught her and steadied her, “Hey, woah, no rush. Craig told them he was Jason’s dad and we’re his cousins, so we can go in like whenever…”

 Both Janis and Cady were startled by someone’s hand slamming on the front desk, “What do you mean I can’t go see him? I’m his girlfriend!”

 “Ma’am, you’re not his family and you’re not any of his emergency contacts, I’m sorry. I can’t allow you to go see him.”

 Cady sighed, “She’s been at it since she got here a few hours ago.”

 Janis looked over Cady’s shoulder to see who the disruptive woman could be. She was dressed to the nines in a red pantsuit and some sizable platform heels that gave what Regina’s stilettos a run for their money. Her red hair was tied back neatly with a blue ribbon. Honestly she looked like she walked right out of the 80s or something.

 Janis had to stifle a laugh.

 The woman pulled her phone out and began to furiously text, “Fine! Fine, whatever, but when Jason Dean wakes up could you tell him Heather is fucking stuck in the waiting room for him?”

_ That _ got Janis’ attention, and by the looks of it, it got Cady’s as well. The woman, Heather apparently, whipped around and sat in one of the seats across the room without even looking up from her phone.

 “So that’s definitely Chandler, right?” Janis whispered.

 “Definitely.”

 “We should talk to her.”

 “And say what? Hey, I’m sorry my uncle tried to kill your boyfriend?” Cady gave her an incredulous look.

 Janis paused for a moment. Clearly they couldn’t say what Cady just suggested, that was asking for trouble. Suddenly she realized that Heather had referred to herself as Jason’s  _ girlfriend _ , and Janis was pretty confident he had said that Veronica was his girlfriend, not Heather. She smirked, “No, but I have an idea for an opener.”

 She was still a little wobbly on her feet, the lights still too bright and her headache still pounding, but Cady helped guide her across the waiting room quickly. Cady cleared her throat in an attempt to get Heather’s attention, the girl in red didn’t so much as look up at them.

 “Uh, hello? Heather Chandler, I presume?”

 Heather scoffed, “God, what do you want? I’m kind of busy?”

 She reminded Janis of Regina, a shared look with Cady tells her that she also sees the resemblance, “Just wondering where Veronica was. Figured Jason would appreciate the presence of his  _ real _ girlfriend.”

 Heather froze briefly before pocketing her phone and finally looking up at Janis. She had dark freckles, shimmery blue eyes, and her cheekbones looked like maybe they could cut glass. Janis felt her heart stop, Heather looked a lot like Cady but with sharp points and no soft edges. 

_ She looked a lot like Plastic Cady. _

 Cady’s hand tightened its grip on her arm when Heather spoke up again, “I don’t know what you want or who you think you are, but you don’t know shit about Ronnie, Jason, and me and I suggest you back off and get off your high horse before I take you off it for you.”

_ She was a lot like Plastic Cady. Plastic Cady with 10x more the Regina. _

 “I went to high school with Regina George, you don’t scare me, bitch,” That was  _ not _ what she intended to say but it’s what came out, “I knew Jason long before you did, so why don’t  _ you _ get off  _ your  _ high horse before  _ I _ make you.”

 “Janis-” Cady’s tone was stern and worried. Heather on the other hand perked up at the sound of Janis’ name, quirking an eyebrow, “Janis? As in Janis Sarkisian?”

 “Uh, yeah?”

 “Oh, Jason never shuts up about you. You’re the one who gave him a black eye in 5th grade on the first day in school,” She had a small smile play across her lips, “You’re half the reason he even insists on coming down here for the holidays!”

 For once, Janis felt a swell of pride that someone she didn’t know knew her, “That black eye was  _ not _ my fault. He’s the dumbass who ran face first into a tree branch, I was just there to witness it.”

 “Of course, he did. Jason’s the most oblivious person I’ve ever met. Ronnie’s the worst at hiding things and if he wasn’t so blind he’d’ve realized she’s been planning to propose to him for like six months now,” Heather laughed.

 A nurse approached them, “Jason Dean is awake now, if you want to go see him, ma’am.”

 Heather didn’t so much as wait for the nurse to finish talking before she bolted down the hallway. Janis and Cady shot the nurse an apologetic look before following Heather to Jason’s room. He had his arm in a stiff cast and his face had some thick bandaging on the cheek where she knows Huggie’s ring must’ve hit. He had a small smile and his eyes crinkled a little when he looked at them, he was almost definitely high on some pain medication.

 “Heather! Is Ronnie here?”

 Without missing a beat, Heather pulled a chair up beside his bed for herself, taking his uncasted hand in both of her own, “No...she couldn’t get out of work today.”

 “That’s dumb. It’s christmas.”

 “And she’s jewish and hanukkah is over, so of course they scheduled her for today,” She rolled her eyes.

 Janis kind of felt like she was intruding, she made a move to leave the room and wait outside but Jason called out to her, “We never got to talk at the bonfire. It’s important…”

 He trailed off and some of his words slurred together. She looked nervously between Heather and Cady, unsure of what to do. Jason had made it pretty clear he didn’t want anyone else to hear what he had to say.

 “Heather, can you and Cady leave us alone for a bit? It’s secret.”

 Heather looked suspicious but got up anyways, she made eye contact with Janis on her way out in a way that Janis somehow just  _ knows  _ was a threat. Janis took a seat in the chair Heather had moved next to Jason, awkwardly looking around the room and waiting for Jason to speak up first.

 “So...I’m thinking of like proposing to Veronica.”

_ Oh. _

 She had to stifle a laugh, remembering what Heather had told her earlier, “Really now?”

 “Yeah,” He talked with a distant tone, “She made me see that I could be better than I was and helped me cope and get through high school with my delusions and like all these fucked up intrusive thoughts and everything while I had to live with my dad. And she and Heather helped me get away from my dad when I turned 18 and just...I feel like I could be a good person with her. Like I  _ am _ a good person with her…”

 Now this was more the kind of talk she expected. She knew a decent about what he dealt with between his dad but she knew significantly less about any disorders or anything he had.

 “I just...I tried talking to me dad about it actually. First night back and all that. He said I was too young and blamed her for all of my problems and you know how it goes with him.”

 “And you’re seriously gonna take his advice?”

 “No-!” He winced, grabbing at his side, “Sorry, I think the doc said I had like a cracked rib or something. Oh, that just hurt a lot. But, seriously, I’m not listening to him I just...I want to make sure I’m not moving too fast or something?”

 Janis thought back on what Heather said about Veronica trying to propose for half a year and smiled, “Not at all. I think you’ll be fine.”

 “Really? Radical.”

 “Did you just say radical? Like unironically?”

 “Yeah, what about it?”

 “Nothing! Just...weird. I guess I’ll go get Heather now huh?” Janis stood up to get the door before Jason grabbed her hand, “Wait. No. One more thing.”

 “Okay?”

 “I don’t know what’s up between you and Cady, but I hope y’all figure it out. She’s good for you and makes you happy, don’t let her go.”

 Janis blushed, “Yeah...okay...weirdo.”

 They both chuckled as Janis moved to open the door. Heather zoomed past her, once again taking her seat beside Jason’s bed. Janis looked to Cady, still standing in the doorway, “We should probably go, Craig’s probably stressed the hell out with this and his wedding coming up in a few days.”

 “See ya’!” Jason shouted out as the two of them waved and left.

 Cady and Janis found their way outside and sat and waited a little off the sidewalk outside as Janis texted her dad to come pick them up, “Alright, so we’ve got like 40 minutes before my dad gets here. Should we talk now or like...wait?”

 “I think now. I don’t want to keep pushing this off until we just don’t ever confront it.”

 “Right…”

 Cady fidgeted with her jacket beside Janis for a moment before letting out a sigh and throwing her arms up, “Okay, I’m going to be blunt about this because I haven’t been upfront about this and I think it’s caused more issues than it’s worth. Janis...I like you. I like you  _ a lot. _ I’ll go so far as to say that I think I may be in love with you and that’s scary because I’ve loved a lot of people but I don’t think I’ve ever been  _ in _ love before. And you’re like my best friend and I want you in my life until the end of time anyways, so I didn’t really want to blow it with you by like weirding you out or something because of a  _ crush. _ ”

_ Oh. _

_ Why didn’t she figure this out already? Cady literally kissed her and got mad at her for thinking they weren’t actually dating? _

_  Is she really that blind? _

__ “And when I offered to come on this trip I kind of thought you understood and caught on to what I was implying, and it felt like you had understood it but you clearly didn’t. Or at least not completely, I guess. And like I totally understand that you don’t like me like that-”

_ Doesn’t like her like that? Is  _ **_she_ ** _ that blind? _

 “-And it’s no hard feelings but I just want you to know that-” Janis interrupted Cady before she could ramble anymore.

 Taking her friend’s face in her hands and pulling her into a deep kiss. It was hard and rough and Cady lets out a squeak of shock before settling in and kissing back with twice as much force. She felt Cady’s hands on her shoulders and she moved one of her own into Cady’s red hair. Somewhere in the back of her head, a little voice was screaming because she was quite literally making out with her best friend  _ on the curb in front of a hospital. _

 But in a location she could pinpoint much easier in the front of her mind, another voice was screaming much louder because here she was  _ making out with her best friend _ on the curb in front of a hospital.

 Somewhere along the way, her common sense won out. She moved her hands down to Cady’s shoulders to pull away.Cady let out a whine and if Janis’ common sense wasn’t already winning the tug of war in her head, she would have gave in and kissed her friend again, “We...have got to finish talking...also stop making out at the entrance to the ER.”

 “I guess,” Cady took her hand in her own, intertwining their fingers, “So...you  _ do _ like me like that huh?”

 “You can just say it, yunno. We’re not in high school anymore.”

 A pause.

 “But yeah. Yeah, I’m kind of in love with you, I guess,” Cady rested her head on Janis’ shoulder and she rested her own head on Cady’s, “I couldn’t really tell you when it happened. It just sorta did. I had a crush on you before everything with Regina happened, but that dropped pretty quick when you threw that party. I don’t know when it really came back…”

 Cady laughed, it sounded kind of sad really, “Funny how that works. I definitely  _ realized _ I liked you the night of that party.”

_ Go figure. _

 “Really? That long, huh?”

 “Ooooooh yeah. Had it bad. I can’t believe you never noticed, even  _ Regina _ tried setting us up at one point before graduation,” Another sad laugh.

 “Oh. Was that what that whole like pool party thing was about? Cause I thought that was pretty weird.”

 Cady burst into a fit of laughs, “Oh my god! I forgot about that, yeah! Yeah I don’t know what her plan was there. It’s not like we hadn’t already seen each other like half naked before then.”

 “Yeah, well, you  _ were _ pretty hot in that swimsuit though. But I think Regina stared more than I did, if we’re being honest.”

 “Heh...yeah…” Cady’s face was completely red and she turned to avoid eye contact with Janis.

 “Uh...Caddy?”

 “I mean, okay, it’s not really related but you should probably know that I  _ did _ totally sleep with Regina...a few times…”

_ Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.  _

 “Oh my god!”

 “She’s hot! I don’t know! I’d never been with a girl before and she offered to help and like- I don’t know! I kinda feel bad because I think she liked me a lot more than I liked her, but that’s...in the past now. I just...thought maybe you should know before we like put any labels on,” Cady gestured wildly between them, “Whatever this is.”

_ Aside from this new and totally outrageous information, Cady had a point. What was this? _

__ “I mean...what do you want it to be?”

 Cady was blushing again, “ _ Well _ ...I’d  _ like _ to be girlfriends but if that’s not what you want then-”

 “No. No, I want that too...I want to be your girlfriend...That’d be nice...girlfriends…” How intellectual.

 The shorter girl had a dopey grin, “Yeah...god, we sound like we’re in high school again.”

 “That’s good...I mean, don’t you want to be with someone who makes you feel as reckless and carefree as you were then?”

 “I think I’d rather be with someone who makes me comfortable as who I am now, than who I was at Northshore…”

_ Well that backfired. _

__ “Uh...yeah...I-I mean, I think I can manage that…” Now it was Janis’ turn to blush and get flustered. Cady was still just smiling up at her, “You already do that, Jan. It’s okay.”

 “Right. So girlfriends?”

 “Girlfriends.”

 A few more minutes of silence pass as they simply watch the road and sit there. Janis speaks up first, “I’m sorry by the way. I just kind of assumed we were on the same page about coming here, I should have talked to you about it more…”

 “It’s okay. We were both kind of stupid and assumed things about it.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha this is late sorry, I wasn't home most of the week and this and chapter 10 were the only chapters I hadn't finished yet
> 
> also this chapters kinda short but it has One good scene that I was NOT about to skip out on

 Her dad showed up eventually, driving Jason’s blue truck for whatever reason. The boxes and bags and junk from the backseat was gone, Janis assumed they probably stacked it all up somewhere in the garage or something. She watched her dad stare them down from the rearview mirror as Cady settled into the seat beside Janis, never letting go of her hand once. She really hoped he would wait until they were home to ask about it.

_ He didn’t. _

 “Everything all fixed up between you two?”

 Janis heard Cady giggle when she let out a long sigh, “Yes, dad. It’s allllll  _ fixed. _ ”

 “Good, cause we still have the wedding on the 30th and that would have been...a mess.”

 “Actually, I’ll have you know that Cady is a fantastic actress and even if she hated me forever, no one at the wedding would know any better until long after we’re back in Chicago and I’d’ve moved back in with you,” She said matter-of-factly.

 “Uh huh, well, we have to go meet Craig at a tailor’s shop or whatever. Make sure our wedding attire fit and all that.”

 With everything that’d been happening, Janis almost forgot about the wedding. She was looking forward to seeing her uncle Craig, she needed to talk to him about something. Namely something named Nate. When they finally got to the tailor’s, a small local place that apparently Craig claims to be the only decent tailor anywhere within 50 miles of Petersburg.

 When they entered the shop, Craig was the only person aside from an old lady that Janis assumes is the tailor. Craig was standing proud as the old lady check some measurements on his torso, he shot them a big grin when he caught them shuffling in, “Hey, guys! This is Louise, we’re doing some final adjustments on my tuxedo but it shouldn’t be long.”

 Her dad stood by the counter while they waited. Janis and Cady wandered around the small shop, looking at all the different displays and fabrics and sending pictures of some to Damian. “It shouldn’t be long” turned into 40 minutes which turned into an hour which turned into an hour and a half. Meaning Janis and Cady got bored ten minutes in and were just sitting in some chairs in the back, spamming Damian with memes since for whatever reason he wasn’t replying. Eventually Craig came up to them, pointing a thumb behind him at Brandon getting his measurements.

 “Cady, you’re next. I wanna talk to Janis in private.”

_ Oh? _

 Craig ushered Cady towards Brandon and Louise, “And it’s very important and might take a while, so I need to start talking ASAP.”

 Janis was shocked, she doesn’t think she’s ever seen her uncle genuinely nervous like this before. He guides her over towards the dressing room in the back and he’s wringing his hands.

 “Dude, are you alright?”

 “Yeah, I’m just-” He’s got a big grin, “I’m getting married! I never thought I would and- Listen, I wanted to ask you something. Janis, I want  _ you _ to be my best man.”

_ That’s not what she was expecting. _

 She just kind of gaped at him for a moment, “I- I- What about...Nate? I mean...isn’t  _ he _ your  _ best man _ .”

 Maybe she was having a little fun with this, she tossed him a wink and internally cringes because she definitely looked dumb as hell doing that.

 “Nathan is….is...he’s my fiance,” Craig was playing with the engagement ring on his left hand, “Me and him...we’ve been together for like, oof, wow, like seven years now? We didn’t really plan to get married, I mean, you know how Mawmaw and Pawpaw are. And Nate’s family...they don’t even talk to him anymore.”

_  This was a lot more information that she was expecting, but seven years...her uncle’s been hiding this for seven years. Probably more! He’s only been with Nate for seven years. He’s like 46, how long has he been hiding this? _

 “But just...I don’t know, we were watching dumb romcoms one day and just, Nate kinda just looked at me with this look in his eyes and he was like, "Peach, what if we got married? We’re pretty much already stuck together for life, why not throw a party for it?" and it was...I don’t know. It was like a wake up call,” He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked Janis in the eyes, he was tearing up.

  “I want to spend my whole life with this man. And I can’t keep hiding that from Mawmaw and Pawpaw, no matter how scared I am. And I love Brandon, but...I want  _ you _ to be my best man. Because what’s a better “screw you, we’re gay whether you like it or not” than the gay uncle having his lesbian niece as his best man at his gay wedding?”

 Janis has never loved her uncle more, she pulls him in for a hug and buries her face into his shoulder because maybe she’s tearing up too now. They’re both laughing like idiots, “Yeah. Yeah, of course I’ll be your best man, dude.”

 There was a knock on the door way. The two of them jumped apart., her dad was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed in front of him and a smug smile across his face, “You tell her yet, Craig?”

 “Yeah, yeah, Janibear is my best man now. So you get to stand in the back now, Brandy.”

 “Don’t call me that!” 

 “Don’t call me that!”

 Janis and her dad spoke simultaneously and Craig just smiled before walking out, “Janis, don’t forget! You’re next for the fittings!”

 Her dad put a hand on her shoulder, “Now, remember this  _ is _ Craig’s wedding. So you’re not allowed to out-smug him at the wedding. But, make sure you  _ are _ smug, because he’ll never forgive you if you aren’t a smug bastard towards our parents.”

 “It’s impossible to out-smug, Uncle Craig, Dad.”

 “You’ve got a point there, pumpkin,” They started walking out of the dressing room back towards the front, “And try not to stare too much at Cady in her dress.”

 “What do you mean-”  _ Oh. _ Cady was standing on a stool in...a  _ really _ nice red dress, “Oh…”

 Cady smiled wide and bright, “Hey, Janis! What do you think? Pretty cool right?” She twirled around quickly, giggling.

 “Y-yeah...pretty…. _ pretty _ .”

_ Oh, she was horrible at this. Someone tape her mouth shut and never let her speak again. _

 Everyone laughed and Janis felt her face burning up. Her uncle was never going to let her live this down. Cady stepped off the stool and grabbed her hands, smiling up at her. Janis had to admit, it was really hard not to smile back at her  _ girlfriend. _ Okay, one it was impossible and two she was  _ never _ going to get tired of calling Cady her girlfriend.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my g-d I am so sorry this is late, the past like 2 weeks have been,,,,,,,so stressful,,,,but!! it's done, huzzah, the first and only thing I have ever finished and posted lmao

 The next five days was the most stressful five days of Janis’ life.

 Okay, wait, so maybe that’s a little dramatic. But having to hide the fact that her uncle’s  _ gay _ and that his secret fiancee is actually another  _ man _ from her grandparents is a lot harder than she thought it’d be. 

 Nate’s around the house a lot in the week. Helping pack up christmas decorations and just hanging around for lunch or dinner, Janis thinks it’s a miracle her grandparents  _ don’t _ know he’s the one marrying Craig. They do seem to like him though. That’s something at least. She gets to know him better as well, especially as one of the few people who know.

 He’s got a doctorate in psychology and works as an addictions counselor in Los Angeles. He’s known Craig for  _ twenty _ years. They dated two other times before the past seven years. He’s charming, funny, and he’s managed to completely woo Linda and Hugh within the week.

 In the same time, there was an obvious ridge in her family.

 No one wanted to talk about what happened at the bonfire. Her grandparents avoided the topic of her uncle like the plague, going so far as to just ignore the glaring details that: 1.) he could have killed Jason, in fact he said as much to imply he  _ would _ 2.)  _ they _ raised Huggie, they had a hand in who he is. And they didn’t want to take any responsibility apparently. Not that she can really blame them, but for people who have called her and Craig “immature” so many times, she’d kind of hoped they’d at least be mature enough to admit they had a hand in this.

 Craig had tried to bring it up and ask about Jason’s recovery or what’s going to happen to Huggie all week. And every single time without fail, her grandparents just ignored him. They’d leave the room if they had no topics to change it to.

 Which speaking of, Jason was released from the hospital yesterday, Craig invited him and Heather to the wedding but Heather apparently already had booked a flight back to Washington. And speaking of Huggie, he’s...well Janis isn’t 100% sure where he is actually, but she  _ thinks _ he’s like in jail or something waiting for a court date? They posted his bail and she saw enough zeroes to know that there was no way her family had enough or was going to get enough money for it.

 Even with Leslie’s gold-digger status.

 Maybe she was closer to Huggie than her dad or Craig, but Janis thinks that even  _ Leslie _ is smart enough to know he doesn’t deserve bail for this. And if she doesn’t? Then she’s probably just afraid of him now, or afraid of her other two brothers that definitely would have a few choice words to tell her.

 But regardless of anything, the bonfire hardly threw a wrench into the wedding plans. Huggie was already uninvited since his first night back according to Craig. And...Leslie and Vivian was nowhere to be found. Which sucked because Vivian was supposed to be the flower girl. Tanner and Phil were present, which was a surprise. Janis found herself running around helping people get ready and make sure everything was set up. Part of her wondered idly how different this would be if she was at a wedding with someone on her mom’s side. Her mom died when she was like twelve, but...small things like this made her think sometimes…

 The most she knew about her mom’s family was that they were jewish, and they cut off contact with her mom at some point before she was born. Her dad claims not to know why, but she’s pretty sure he’s hiding something.

 But regardless, it was a small thing she kept finding her brain looping back around to in between running around the building. She knows it’ll be different for herself. She doesn’t know how, but somehow.

_ Not that she’s thought about it or anything. Not like she’s wondered about how her own wedding might go one day. _

 She was too distracted by her thoughts and she managed to run straight into someone. She doesn’t know who but they  _ are  _ dressed in red so...they’re someone on Craig’s side. Maybe they were lost? Or maybe she’s lost because she was just completely zoned out for god knows how long.

 “I’m sorry, I was like totally blacked out and not paying...attention...oh,” Her eyes met with the other person, it was Leslie of all people because  _ of course _ Leslie would show up only to run into her in the hallway when she was slacking off, “Decided you did actually want to come, huh?”

 Leslie scoffed, “I never decided not to. Craig is my brother, of course I’m here.”

 “Then why’re you  _ late _ ?”

 “We couldn’t find Vivian’s dress,” Maybe that lie would have worked better if she hadn’t been obviously avoiding the family for the past week.

 “Then why have you been avoiding everyone for the past week?”

 Leslie sighed, “Listen, Janis. I don’t want to talk right now, I need to get Vivian ready.”

 She sounded...tired? And genuine? Janis thinks that she’s not sure she’s ever heard her aunt sound like that. She points over her shoulder with her thumb, “One of Craig’s friends, Natasha or whatever, is helping everyone with makeup and stuff down the hall. Door’s open probably.”

 “Thank you,” Leslie rushed pass, clearly avoiding bumping into Janis as she passed, Vivian close on her tail. The little girl turned around and smiled and waved to Janis as she disappeared down the hall.

_ Weird. _

 Eventually after putting some thought into it, Janis remembers where she was going before she zoned out and ran into her aunt. 

_ Craig’s room. _

 She made it there quickly and she found Craig pacing around only half dressed, “Uncle Craig?”

 “Oh!” He whipped around to face her quick, he was sweating...gross, “Janis, hey.”

 “You okay?”

 “Yeah, just...nervous. I just...I’m really doing this,” He had a goofy grin, “Mom and Dad are gonna lose it…”

 “C’mon, dude, let’s just finish getting you ready. They can lose it if they want. You can just come up to Illinois and visit me and dad for the holidays next year.”

 It was a weak joke, no sugarcoating the very real possibility that they may never have another holiday down here again after this, but it was a joke nonetheless. And he laughed anyways, so it doesn’t matter.

 “Right, of course. Let’s get this show on the road.”

* * *

 

 If it wasn’t for the bonfire, Janis would say that standing beside her uncle at the altar was one of the single most terrifying moments in her recent life. (Nothing will ever out-scare 8th grade.) She can’t imagine how terrified Craig was, she could practically feel him shaking in his tux. She knows she probably isn’t supposed to do this, but she rests a hand on one of his shoulders, trying to help keep him grounded.

_ She knows how it scary it is to come out. Especially when you don’t know how the other person will react. _

 It seems like Craig did calm down some, he at least stopped shaking. Janis saw him smile big and nervous and she sees Nate and one of their friends (Frankie maybe?) walking down the aisle. Maybe she should have noticed before now, but it was probably intentional that they had one of their girl friends walk with Nate. Hold off the inevitable for as long as possible.

 Craig really was terrified.

 Once the two got to the aisle, Frankie straightened out Nate’s bowtie a little before going sit down. Janis sought out her grandparents in the pews without realizing it. They didn’t look mad, that was good at least? Her grandmother looked maybe a little shocked or disappointed, but her grandfather was completely neutral. She couldn’t read him.

 She didn’t pay a lot of attention to the ceremony, she already heard Craig’s vows a million times. Hell, she helped him write them. Instead she spent it trying to stealthily watching her grandparents.

 “Speak now, or forever hold your peace,” Her grandmother looked like she wanted to say something. Part of Janis wanted her to, she doesn’t know how Craig would feel about that, but she feels like she would rather her family be honest to her face rather than hold it in and pretend they don’t hate her, “You may now kiss the groom.”

 Her grandparents were the first out the room after everything was said and done, she’s got a knot forming in her chest. Craig’ll be fine, she knows that, he’s been dealing with this for decades longer than she has, but it still makes her stomach twist thinking about it.

* * *

 

 Her grandmother isn’t at the reception.

 And her grandfather shows up and pulls Craig to the side, who also dragged Nate along. They talked softly and quiet away from everyone, Janis desperately wanted to know what was being said. But it wasn’t her place to intrude and it wasn’t her business to ask. Her grandfather hugs Craig and shakes Nate’s hand before leaving quickly. It makes her feel a little better, knowing that maybe at least one of her grandparents accept Craig, Nate, and herself as well. But the fact that her grandmother didn’t so much as enter the building leaves a rotten taste in her mouth that’s going to linger all night.

 It’s an elephant in the room than no one wants to bring up. Just like Huggie.

 Leslie approaches her table when Cady gets up to go get some cake and her dad was talking to some of Craig’s friends. It makes alarm bells go off in her head that her aunt waited for her to be alone to talk to her.

 The alarm bells quieted down when she noticed how uncomfortable and nervous Leslie looked. Vivian wasn’t with her either, probably dancing with her brothers if no where else.

 “I wanted to apologize.”

_ What? _

 “I still don’t... _ agree _ with how you live your life, but...I don’t want to end up like Hugh. I don’t want you or your friends or anyone hurt or-,” She stopped but Janis knows what she was going to say,  _ dead _ , “And I don’t want to end up like my mother either. I’ve spent too long trying  _ not _ to become her. I don’t want to just...leave my kids at their own weddings over something like... _ this _ .”

 This was really weird. Janis is pretty sure Leslie just called her kids gay.

 “It’s not my choice, who they love. Even if I think it’s- I don’t like who it ends up being.”

_ Wow, subtle. Nice save. _

 Janis has never been more uncomfortable during an apology, not even Regina’s apology was this bad, “Okay? And?”

 “I just wanted to apologize...and I think Vivian may...be gay?”

_ Oh. _

 “Like, she’s 14 and she still hasn’t expressed any interest in boys or dating and...I don’t want her to be afraid of me. I know I haven’t treated you the best but I want Viv to know it’s okay to...to like girls.”

 There’s a lot to unpack in this. For one, she’s not sure how genuine the apology part of this is, but she doesn’t really care, Janis cares that Vivian is involved in this mess whether she knows it or not.

 “If she’s going to be like you, I want her to have someone to look up to that I know I can trust and...I know I haven’t acted like it, but I trust you with this more than anyone else. I don’t want to even think about Vivian looking up to-”

 Janis stands up, effectively shutting her aunt up, “Stop. I don’t have to forgive you, and to be blunt, I don’t plan to, but stop talking about your own daughter like that.”

 “Janis, I don’t care what you think of me okay? I just want you to go talk to Vivian. I don’t want her to feel alone in this and I can’t help her anymore than asking you to be there for her right now.”

 Janis didn’t want to do it just out of spite, just to teach her aunt a lesson, but...she couldn’t do that to Vivian, “Yeah, fine, okay. I’ll talk to her. But I don’t have to tell you shit if she asks me not to.”

 “Yes, fine, whatever,” Leslie just rolls her eyes.

 Funny enough, Vivian is at the table with the cake with Cady and Phil. Two birds with one stone, she doesn’t have to search the entire building for Cady or Viv.

 “Janis!” Vivian immediately tackled her in a hug, “I couldn’t hug you before the wedding, we were too late, sorry!”

 “Hey, it’s cool, don’t worry about it,” Janis looked over to Cady and Phil, “I’m...I wanna talk to Viv alone for a bit. We’re gonna be outside in the garden, if anyone like needs us, okay?”

 Phil just nodded, Cady smiled, “Don’t stay out there for too long. You owe me a dance, Janis.”

 Janis blushed, “Right. Yeah, I’ll...be back before you know it, Caddy.”

 It was drizzling outside, so they had to sit on the stairs, under the slight patio covering.

 “Did my mom ask you to do this?”

_ Observant. _

 “No- I mean,  _ yes _ , but I’d still do it anyways,” Vivian looks at her like she doesn’t believe her, Janis can’t really blame her, she used to be in her shoes, “Look, just...we don’t see each other a lot, so I can’t say a lot on the matter. All I know is what Leslie said she thinks and whatever you tell me while we sit out here. But Leslie thinks you...might be gay?”

 There’s a harsh intake of breath beside her and Janis suddenly realizes that she worded that probably pretty poorly.

 “It’s not- She’s not- Your mom isn’t mad, or anything, kid. In fact, she asked me to do this just to make sure you knew it was okay “even if she doesn’t agree with your lifestyle choice”,” Janis put on her best fake-Leslie voice to mock her.

 It pulled a laugh out of her cousin, “Oh, wow, thank god, whatever would I do if she  _ agreed _ with my “lifestyle choice.”

 “But seriously? I don’t know if you know the story, but...I didn’t exactly have the best coming out experience. So, if you are...you don’t have to tell anyone until your ready. Even if Leslie tries pushing really hard, and don’t let others decide how you feel. You’re awesome and if they’ve got shit to say then...they can say it to your fist,” They both laughed, “Or maybe to Tanner or Phil’s fists. Tanner isn’t the best, but I’m sure he’d still stand up for you if it came down to it.”

 “Yeah…”

 “So…”

 “ _ So _ …”

 “Got any crushes?” Janis nudged Vivian in the side, her little cousin was bright red and refusing to make eye contact,  _ so she does _ , “You don’t have to tell me. But...if you wanna talk about it, I’m still gonna be around.”

 “Well...okay, so like…” Vivian was grinning wide, “There’s this girl in AP English class. Her name’s Elle. I-I think she’s straight, like obnoxiously straight, but she’s really sweet, if a little dumb maybe. She’s always like super overly dressed for  _ high school _ but, she’s like  _ really _ pretty. Blonde hair, blue eyes, she’s kind of like...a real life barbie doll, I guess...That sounded weird.”

 “No, I get it,”  _ Janis gets it all too well, _ “So...you talk to her any?”

 “Pfft, no...well...we actually got partnered for a project over the break. Obviously we’re going to have to cram since I’ve spent the whole break down here, but...I don’t know. She asked for my number before I left and she keeps texting me but I don’t know how to respond. She wants to go to some coffee shop before we go to the library for the books when I get back.”

 “Oooooh, sounds like a date~”

 Vivian’s blush brightened and she shoved hard at Janis, “Oh my god! Stop! It’s not a date! She has a boyfriend, Emmett. He’s like a total teacher’s pet, honestly, but he’s nice too, I guess.”

 “Well...maybe just  _ talk _ to her about it, huh? The worst case scenario is she’s not interested and you can move on and find some other hot girl.”

 Vivian rolled her eyes, “Fine, okay, but  _ only _ after I go home.”

 “Text me about it, I’ll be your behind the scenes wingman...or hype man, I guess?”

 Vivian just ignored her and walked back inside, Janis stayed outside for a few moments longer. It wasn’t until she heard the door opening that she realized maybe she stayed outside for too long.

 “You still owe me a dance, you know?”

_ Oh. It was Cady. Of course. _

__ “Right, I know, I just got stuck thinkin’ is all. We can go back inside and dance, if you want.”

 Janis stood up quickly, taking Cady’s hand in her hand, only Cady didn’t budge, “Nah, I think I’d rather dance out here.”

 “Oh...okay?”

 The music could still be heard from out here, but it was muffled and quiet. Cady was quick to lock her hands around Janis’ shoulders, “As stressful as this whole trip as been, it was nice...and, like, now we’re together, so  _ something _ good came of it.”

 “Yeah, you’re right. But we are  _ so _ not doing this like, ever again. We’re just gonna hang out with my dad or your family from now on. I don’t think I can handle doing this again.”

 “Buzzkill. Although, honestly, I agree. Fun, but not something I wanna repeat again for as long as I live. Even if it meant no more weddings.”

 “Oh? You were planning on going to more weddings, huh?”

 “Well... _ yeah _ , I’d like to get married one day, yunno? It’d be nice, I guess, but if ever wedding ended in as much drama as this one, I’m good just staying a roommate with my beautiful girlfriend and our gay best friend.”

_ Oh. She was thinking about marrying Janis. O h. _

 “Right...well...if  _ I _ ever get married, it’s sure as hell not gonna be anything like this. Because like hell I’m letting ahlf of these people come.”

 “I’ll have to keep that in mind then,” Cady’s smile was soft and mischievous.

 She was right, maybe the trip kinda sucked, but at least it did end well. Better than well even. It ended great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yes, Vivian and Elle and Emmett,,,,very familiar,,,,I wonder,,,,what they're from,,,,hmmm

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be updating this every saturday
> 
> also I have a [tumblr](http://transseandiaz.tumblr.com/) if you wanna talk ;0


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